Bliss at Dawn
by ShawtyItEli
Summary: What if... Emily snuck around the Washington lodge in nothing but a towel, while Jessica, Mike, and Matt gathered around the hellish spirit board. Sam and Ashley escaped to the guest cabin while Josh and Chris left to retrieve a backpack Chris had forgotten. Everything has changed. Will there be bliss at dawn? Story starts at Ch. 4 because I am also uploading oneshots.
1. Chapter 1

**I just finished watching someone play Until Dawn (If you know MattyB you know) and I loved it, but was so freaking surprised when Matt and Jessica didn't get together.**

 **...Okay, maybe not surprised. Just heartbreaking.**

 **Since SamxMike was cute af and I loved Matt I shipped him with Jess and then love! And then I went to search for it and** ** _there were no goddamn fanfictions about them._**

 **So I have decided to take it into my own hands. Oh, and if it's a little non-canon, apologies. I didn't play the game so I won't know every little inkling.**

 **Let's see how this goes. This is going to be multiple chapters of MattxJessica, and maybe if you guys want I'll write of some other couples too. This one isn't really MattxJessica love, but I'll get to that, it's more what I thought should have been their meeting in the mines.**

Description: When Matt falls into the mines and finds Jessica battered and bruised beyond belief. It's probably one of the most horrifying things he's ever seen.

It had felt like hours now. That was all Matt could think as he trudged through the mine, walking along the rock and crumble as he tried to keep his positivity up. If he kept his thoughts on the horrifying things that could lurk in the caves he would become terrified himself; and so, a positive attitude meant a happy time in the mines.

...Well, at least, that's what he hoped for.

A sigh escaped his lips. The fall from the tower had busted him up a quite a bit, and while he was fine enough to function, the pain never left the back of his mind. Of course, if he thought too much about it, it would become more evident.

Positivity, my friend, cures all ills.

Emily was occupying the forefront of his mind. All he could think was that there was more he could have done to get _her_ to safety. It didn't matter at all if he lived or not, if Emily lived, he would be content with his death. It was just the way he was.

A series of inhumane noises echoed through the mines, causing Matt to slightly pick up his pace. He didn't know what was out there, but he sure as hell wasn't going to find out.

The noises seemed to getting closer, and they escalated significantly in volume. Matt's breathing became erratic as he tried to force the noises out of his mind. Maybe ignoring them would make them disappear.

Matt immediately halted, holding his breath. He had heard a noise that felt like it was _right fucking behind him._ There was no way in hell he was going to turn around. A dark feeling formed in his gut and quickly branched throughout his body like some type of spreading poison.

But for some reason, a small voice, the _tiniest_ inkling, told him to turn around. Curiosity seemed to replace the poisonous feeling, his ignorance and positivity quickly becoming the death of him as he turned around.

Curiosity killed the cat.

"HOLY SHIT!" Matt screamed, a horrifying monster just a few feet away from him. It's skin was stretched out so far that Matt could see bone and ribs practically jabbing out from the beast's body. It's eyes were cloud like in color, and it's teeth were jarring out like one of an animals.

Instantly the teen broke out into a mad dash, clutching the flare gun in his left hand, instincts kicking in. They _screamed_ at him to get out of there, informing him that whatever that monster was it sure as hell wasn't friendly.

The beast waited a few moments before darting after Matt, moving at increasing speeds as it somehow clung to the walls and was able to leap from place to place instantaneously.

Matt's breathing went from erratic to inhumane as he gasped wildly for air. All rational thought went out the window as he heavily relied on whatever instinct had been bestowed upon him by the gods in the sky. But it seemed like the faster he ran, the more distance the monster had covered between them.

Matt realized he was quickly running out of options, the burning feeling in his legs and lungs becoming more and more powerful with every passing second. With a quick flip of the mind and rapid movement, Matt shifted his body weight and spun on his right foot, aiming the gun at the beast before firing the flare gun.

Thank god he hadn't shot it at the tower.

The force of the flare making contact with the beast, and the shooting of the gun itself, set Matt falling back. Once he made contact with the ground he blinked a few times, trying to stop his head from ringing as he scrambled to his feet, dashing away from the monster. It didn't matter if the beast was alive or not. Matt just needed to get away.

"Holy fuck!" Matt yelped, clutching onto any ripple of reality as he tried to make sense of his situation. Whatever, _whatever_ _ **that**_ _was,_ was not human. It was far from it. And yet, at the same time, its appearance was humanoid.

It didn't matter. Matt didn't have time to make heads or tails of the situation. He was too busy trying to stay alive.

If it had felt like hours before, it now felt like days. Hunger nipped away at Matt's stomach, the bruises covering his body aching. He had been walking for a bit after making his escape from the monster, and he took the time to thank God for that flare gun.

He wondered how the others were doing. Had they come in contact with that terrifying monster? He hoped not. He had barely survived. If anyone else had seen it, they would surely be dead.

Of course, it wasn't like anybody else had ended up in the mines...

Aside from Emily.

"Oh shit." Matt cursed, remembering his girlfriend had fell down with him. Of course, he had killed the beast, so there was no way it could harm Emily now. Well, unless it had already gotten to her.

No...No way. The monster was horrifying, but it didn't have any marks of resistance, or at least _blood_ on him. Or it. Did that beast even have a gender?

Shuddering, Matt remembered positivity. He almost laughed at the thought now. Only minutes had passed but he felt like he had matured years. Ignorance was not bliss. Ignorance was an illusion.

"I can't believe this." Matt tried to keep his sanity in check. Maybe if he thought of things like a list, made a to-do list, he would be able to keep his mind on track.

Find Emily

Get out of the mines

Find everybody else

Get the hell out of there

Yeah, that sounded good to him. Of course, if there was anybody else in the mines, he would find them too.

Of course, that possibility was rather unlikely. He hoped.

His venture through the mines started to make his head ache. Actually, maybe his head had been aching for a while, but he had just noticed it now. His ears were still ringing. His upper lip may have been cut. He couldn't tell. He could taste something metallic though.

Matt decided to take a breather at this point. He tried to recollect his thoughts, thinking over the four step plan multiple times. Four steps. That was all it took and he and his friends would _all_ be safe. He believed in the four step plan.

His eyes darted over the area. There was a small wooden table to his left, and from what he could see through the darkness, there was a lantern and a match seated on it.

With a gracious smile he jogged over, quickly lighting up the lantern. This was God telling him there was hope.

As he moved to his right to get back to his blights, a dark figure appeared, swinging what looked like a shovel. Immediately reflexes took over and he reached out his free hand in an attempt to stop the shovel. Thankfully, it worked, and the shovel fell to the ground.

"...Jess?!" Matt said incredulously, holding the light to the girl so he could get a better look. Her body was hunched over in fear, clearly she was unaware that the person she had just tried to attack was Matt.

Her features were rough and her body was shivering slightly. Her blond locks were cloaked in dust and dirt, and red spots- _blood_ -covered her being. Her eyes drooped and her mouth was slightly parted, ragged breathing coming out of them. You could tell she was at her limits.

Matt could relate. He was at his limits too.

"Jessica! It's me, Matt." Matt clarified, speaking slowly. She looked beat up, and he wasn't sure about her mental state either. His sure wasn't all that great.

Slowly, but surely, she stood up taller, still slightly hunched over. Her eyes were filled with worry and anxiety, causing Matt's heart to drop. Her breathing was still shaky, but not as rushed as before.

"Jesus, are you okay? You look like you've been through hell..." Matt trailed off, his eyes searching her body. To say he felt guilty would be an understatement. He thought he was bad off, but this girl looked like she just rose from the dead.

"...Matt." She said simply, her voice breathy and scared. Unsure of what exactly to do, Matt slowly reached his hand towards her, doing it slowly so she wouldn't flinch. Eventually she settled it on her shoulder, hoping that she wasn't too injured there. It was supposed to be reassuring, not painful.

She didn't flinch or grimace, so Matt stood at the crossroads. There was no need to give a reassuring squeeze or something like that. She seemed past the point of being consoled and causing her more pain wasn't going to help her.

"Jess...There's a monster around here. I just want you to be careful." Matt explained cautiously. Jessica immediately became on edge at the thought of there being a monster lurking around.

"No...I've seen it. It fucking dragged me down here, Matt!" Her words were crude, but there was no power behind it. Her voice was empty, almost hopeless. "Oh God..." She stumbled towards Matt, leaning her head against his shoulder, grasping onto his arm. Jessica looked absolutely exhausted.

Matt really had no energy to hold himself and Jessica up, but he forced himself too. She had clearly been through more hell then he could ever imagine. It was the least he could do.

"...Hey, not to rush you at all or anything, but we need to get going soon. If you need a few more moments, it's fine, but... _that thing_..." Matt trailed off for a second time, unsure of what exactly to say. Jessica croaked in response, her voice shaky, signaling she needed just one more second. Matt nodded, clearing his throat, hoping she was comfortable at the very least.

The four step plan had turned in to the five step plan in a matter of moments.

Help Jessica

Find Emily

Get out of the mines

Find everybody

Get the hell out of there

Jessica was priority by this point, mostly because she looked like she could pass out and die at any moment. Matt prayed to whatever God's were listening that they would watch over Emily in his stead. He would come back for her when he had time, but he owed it to Jessica-and _Mike_ unfortunately-to help her out.

"Ready." Her soft voice snapped him back into reality. He cleared his throat again, nodding to reassure himself. Jessica slowly pulled away, taking her warmth with her. Matt missed it immediately. When you were terrified, warmth was another means of light in the darkness.

So, before he could stop himself, he reached out for the girl's hand. She flinched at the contact, and Matt instantly pulled away.

"S-Sorry, I just..." Matt was silenced when she grabbed his hand, averting her gaze from the boy. He sighed in relief, happy she hadn't pissed off the quick to anger girl. Obviously, she was was horrified, and longed for warmth just as much as Matt did. Plus, she was far too exhausted-mentally and physically-to put up much of a fight.

So they began there way out of the mines. Matt led the way, keeping Jess close at all times, his free hand holding the light out in front of him.

The only thing that could be heard-well, besides the disturbing noises the two chose to ignore-was the duo's breathing. Matt was happy that Jessica's breathing had slowed down enough to be considered regular.

"Mike..." Matt heard Jessica mumble, her eyes looking at the ground, and yet, they seemed like they weren't looking anywhere at the same time. Matt swallowed hard at hearing Mike's name. It didn't matter if he didn't care for the boy or not, he was his friend, and he wanted him to stay alive.

Of course, his life was detrimental to Jessica's sanity.

"He'll be okay." Matt said reassuringly, even though he had no clue. But a small inkling within him told him that the boy would be okay. It was Mike. "You know him better then I do. Half-man half-amazing." Mike chuckled lightly, happy to move the topic to a different subject. Even if it was Mike, it would keep Jessica's spirits up. And of course, if she could see Mike at the end of the road, it would increase her wanting to survive.

All Matt got in response was a light squeeze, signaling that Jessica appreciated the positivity. Right, positivity. Ignorance was bliss.

Matt really wasn't sure at this point.

A few feet in front of him, Matt noticed some sort of a...cave in. There was a metal flooring with open squared holes as design. He let go of Jessica's hand to kneel down and identify it, intrigued by what it was.

"Hmm...Must have been some kind of cave in." Matt pondered, holding the lantern to get a better look. He heard Jessica stand behind him, fidgeting slightly.

"That was me." Jessica's voice startled him, since she hadn't been one for talk for the last bit. Matt wasn't sure if it was some kind of sick joke, but at this point, a joke-next to Matt's awkward icebreakers-was unfathomable.

"What?" Was all that Matt could say, hoping he had heard wrong. He turned his head around to get a better look at the blond, who was looking at the metal piece with a wistful look.

"I fell through that roof." Jessica repeated, her voice toneless to the point that it frightened Matt. He let out a shaky breath, slowly rising to his feet, unease spreading through his body as he tried to get eye contact with Jess. _I need to keep her sane._

"You fell this far?" Matt asked. She nodded.

"Yeah..." Matt placed his free hand on his forehead, trying to make sense of the situation.

"No way...Jesus Christ." Matt mumbled, now seeing why Jessica was in the state she was in. "Guess that makes two of us." Matt remembered his own fall from the tower. There was no doubt, it had been quite the fall. He had just gotten lucky.

"What? Really?" This had sparked Jessica's interest, finally _some_ kind of emotion coming through. Matt inwardly smiled, until he grimaced remembering his plights.

"Yeah...Fell off a damned fire tower right into these mines." He cringed at the memory, remembering that Emily had fell with him. Maybe she hadn't been as lucky as he had been.

"You're kidding me." Jessica said, slightly shocked. Matt shook his head. He wished it was a joke.

He reached his hand out to Jessica, making eye contact with her, silently asking if she wanted to keep doing, well, _whatever the hell they were doing_ or too just continue on their way.

In the end, Jessica grabbed his hand. He didn't resent her for it. He didn't blame anything on her for it. He was thankful for it. He was terrified.

It was barely a second when a booming noise echoed through the caverns, getting closer and closer to Matt and Jessica. He sharply inhaled, Jessica gasping next to him, one of those _monsters_ were coming.

"Fuck..." Matt muttered. "Come on Jessica, we have to run." Matt spoke with a hushed tone. Yelling would just make them both scared. Plus, people seemed to pay closer attention to quieter instructions then things being screamed at them.

She didn't respond, but when he began to move, she quickly followed. They ran for quite a bit-well, light jog, since Jessica sure as hell wasn't in the state to sprint-until they came to a spot where there was either a path to continue on or, what looked like, a good place to hide.

Matt flickered his eyes over to Jessica, hearing her panting wildly. She was not in the state to keep running, not at all. Maybe hiding would be their best bet.

"Let's hide in here, okay?" Matt motioned towards the area. Jessica nodded, going in first, Matt following closely behind. Once they had squeezed in, it only took a few moments for the monster to appear.

Matt couldn't see it, but he could sure as hell _hear it_ , and that didn't make it any less terrifying. Actually, it was more scary, since he could never pinpoint where exactly it was.

Jessica clutched his hand, trying to keep silent so the monster wouldn't come close. Matt immediately copied, trying to silence whatever he could, hoping a stomach rumble or a sneeze wouldn't be the end of their lives.

Thankfully, before anything bad could happen, the duo heard the footsteps of the monster leaving. They waited a few more moments after that to finally shimmy out of the hiding place. Matt kept Jessica in front of him at all times, this way if something came from behind it would get him first, and if something was coming towards them he could hop in Jessica's way.

Hopefully it would give her time to escape, or at least hide.

"We can do this Jess." Positivity, yes. Ignorance was not bliss. Matt had come to that decision. But if Jessica could be the saved he would forever be in bliss, even if he didn't make it out in the end.

"Y-Yeah." She tried to quicken her pace to match Matt's, wincing from the pain coursing through her veins. There was no way in hell she was holding him back. Jessica wasn't one to be saved, and she sure as hell wasn't one to cause Matt's death. That would follow her for the rest of her life.

After a few more minutes, there was two separating paths again. One was guarded with a wooden barrier, but Matt could see that past it was the outside. The other way didn't matter as, without a second thought, he slammed himself into the wood, dragging Jessica out there with him.

Approaching steps of monster could be heard, and Matt quickly shimmied to the side of the mountain he now found himself on, Jessica beside him. The snow fell slowly from the sky, almost making it seem like this was nothing more then a scary dream and he had reached the blissful ending that was happy and fortunate.

...Yeah fucking right.

Matt could hear it. He could hear _it._ Was it breathing? Matt didn't know what the noise it was making was, but it was horrifying. Terrifying. It sent shivers down his spine and formed a lump in his throat.

But when Jessica squeezed his hand reassuringly, all fears danced away, falling like the snow.

He squeezed back, of course. Extraordinarily lightly, of course, because if he had squeezed too hard surely Jessica would've groaned in pain. Which would, in turn, alert the monster.

You always had to be thinking. At first Matt thought instincts would carry him through this hell, but his brain was a vital piece. Even if he was a _**dumb oaf.**_

After a few minutes of horror, Matt inwardly sighed in relief as the creature began to crawl away, leaving him and Jess standing on the snow, breathing in relief and lingering fear.

"Holy shit." Matt mumbled, looking over at Jessica to see if she was okay. The blond kept her gaze on the falling snow, emotion written all over her face.

"Holy fucking shit." Her voice cracked slightly. They had made it. It was dawn.

He looked down the mountain, seeing the safest route down. The whole adventure would be pointlessly if they both fell to their deaths.

"Okay," Matt paused to take a breath. From where they stood they could see the lodge. They needed to get back to everybody. "I'm going to get you to Mike, and then I'll come back and get Emily." Matt deduced.

"What? Are you fucking crazy?" Matt was taken aback from the spark of emotion, tears now flowing down Jessica's cheeks. Her voice wasn't as dead as before, but it still wasn't...human.

Matt swallowed the lump in his throat. He would not cry. He needed to look strong, because when you looked strong, others felt strong. It was a domino effect. They could all cry later.

"Maybe." Matt chuckled lightly. Jessica held his hand tighter, laughing lightly as well. This made Matt inwardly sigh in relief, at least she was okay. Well, maybe okay wasn't the right word.

Matt did not want to go back into the mines whatsoever. Not after everything he and Jessica had been through in there. But he had to find Emily. He had too.

Jessica and Matt never made it down the mountain. A helicopter had seen them, thankfully, and had picked them up from where they were. Matt was horrified the whole time that a monster would hop in while they were boarding.

But that didn't happen.

Thank God.

He and Jessica sat in the helicopter, a few people in the front, directing the helicopter. They had asked Matt if they wanted them to sit with him and Jessica-since Jessica wasn't really talking-but he had refused. He just wanted to sit with Jessica. Somebody he knew. Somebody he had experienced that with.

They were flying towards the lodge where different helicopters were hovering over. It was on fire, flames roaring as embers soared from what once was a fun place to be. Something Matt looked forward to. Now it nearly sent him straight into a panic attack.

He exhaled shakily, hoping that the others were okay. Jessica had heard him and tightened her grip on his hand, moving her head so that she was lying on his shoulder. Matt tensed for a few moments before he relaxed, thankful for Jess' compliance. If this was just everyday, there was no way Jessica would do this.

But this wasn't everyday, was it?

"Emily..." Matt mumbled as he stared out the window, Jessica still leaning on him. Hopefully nobody had been caught in the horrific fire. He squinted, trying to see through the snow, but to no avail.

"She'll be okay." Jessica reassured, giving Matt's hand a small squeeze. "Just like Mike, right? Half-woman half-amazing?" Matt chuckled, shaking his head.

"Not quite. But...I'm okay with that." Matt admitted, his lips turning upwards in a smile. Jessica sniffled, and Matt moved his hand around her.

"This doesn't hurt...right?" Matt checked, hoping she would be okay with it. Jessica just shook her head, closing her eyes as she leaned against him.

"I'll get to see him...Mike." Jessica murmured, being on the weird state of consciousness and unconsciousness before finally reaching a state of sleep. Matt decided to play along, nodding.

"Yep, you will. And you can tell him that you made it, for him." Matt continued. Jessica hummed, not moving for a few moments. At first Matt thought she had fallen asleep, but when she spoke up, it was clear she had not.

"Thanks to you...If it weren't for you..." She trailed off. It was hard to catch what exactly she was saying, but Matt had heard her.

"I don't think I would have made it without you either, Jess." Matt admitted. When she didn't respond, he assumed that this time she was _actually asleep._ Matt sighed in relief, readjusting so that, hopefully, Jessica would be more comfortable. At this point it didn't really matter since she was asleep.

He looked at the girl with worried eyes. This would surely take quite a hit on her psyche. She had been through a lot, the majority of it alone. Matt had come in contact with a beast, but Jessica had been _so close._ That was traumatic.

He leaned in slowly, not too sure what he was doing, until he came close enough to her forehead that he was breathing on it. He closed the gap, kissing her softly on the forehead.

He wasn't sure why he did it. Truthfully, he may never know. But what he did know was it was the end of something. A sealing away of the trauma he had experienced at the lodge. The lodge that belonged to Josh's family, a place that was supposed to be fun and free. With its fair share of remorse and drama, but nothing too bad.

That hadn't happened. He would give anything to have a vacation with Emily and Jess bitching at one another instead of the hell he had just experienced. But there was no going back. He couldn't change the past.

He moved away from Jessica's head, feeling slightly guilty for kissing her when she wasn't awake to stop it. Technically, it wasn't that big a deal since it was her forehead...

...There wasn't really a way to justify it.

He exhaled shakily, leaning back against the seat, closing his own eyes. Begging sleep to take him away, just for a few moments. It never happened though.

Maybe it was a good thing.

Because if he had fallen asleep, he would've missed the smile on Jessica's lips and her very, _very_ lightly blushing cheeks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the lovely reviews and for the follows :D They are muuuch appreciated. I just need to warn you that as much as I'd love to update every single day there just isn't enough time in the world so updates won't be as frequent as I would like but I hope y'all are still satisfied!**

 **And for all you suffering that there is no MattxJessica to be found...**

 **IT SHALL BE NO MORE!**

 **...Lol anyways**

|Chapter 2-Bliss at Dawn Pt.2|

Description: Matt was out of the mines. Jessica was safe and Emily had made it. He still longed for that warmth though. It was all a part of the routine now.

Routine was a key part of every single humans life. You wake up, eat breakfast-in Matt's case, chocolate cereal puffs-take a shower, brush your teeth, head out the door, and then the school routine begins. Some people didn't have as many routines as everyone else, but everybody was stuck in a routine.

It was hard to settle back into his. Matt was happy, so happy that everyone had made it alive...Well, with the exception of Josh unfortunately. Matt was informed that Josh had indirectly caused them to go through that hell, but it wasn't his fault. He had no idea.

The teen shook his head, trying to rid thoughts off Josh, putting the acceptance of his death off for another time. He and Josh weren't exactly the closest friends in the world, but they were friends. He wouldn't forget that.

It had been a month since the incident. Mike had gone to school first. He had a strong mentality and was able to digest and move on the situation as he settled back into his daily life. Matt was proud of him for that. Mike had plenty of responsibilities and upheld them even after such a traumatic experience, even though he was still mourning Josh's death and coming to terms with the situation.

Matt had followed, of course. He really didn't want to, but his team needed him...But really, the team didn't matter. He just hoped that if he followed Mike's example and started going to school again, the others would feel strong enough to follow.

Surprisingly-and yet unsurprisingly at the same time- Sam had gone to school a week after Matt had. It wasn't so much the horror that hit her so hard, it was more Josh's death. But, like Sam does, put on a strong face and was the shoulder to cry on for Ashley. Well, and Chris. He was crying a lot too.

Ashley probably was the worst off. Her experience wasn't as... _bad,_ per se, but that's how Ashley was. She was a feeler, of course. Take somebodies depression and then multiply it by two, and then you would have Ashley. Not to mention that, going in, she was _horrified_ by horror. To experience it? It must have been awfully...awful.

Actually, maybe it was Chris who was worst off. Josh was his _best friend._ They were buddies, they did almost everything together, from Josh cheating off of Chris during tests to driving around together, just shooting the breeze. To lose somebody that was such a key factor of your life had to be...awful.

That was all Mat could say. Awful.

Chris had eventually gone to school, and Matt assumed he did not because he wanted to-obviously-but so that Ashley would have the courage to go to school. Ashley didn't follow.

The next to go was Emily. It had taken some coaxing from Matt-but he never forced her to do it. That would be a shitty thing to do-but she eventually worked up the courage to go. Matt had gotten over to her house and sat next to her for hours while she sobbed, and sometimes, Matt would join in. It was a good release.

But Emily had been rather cold as of lately. And truthfully, Matt didn't blame her. Everyone was a little on edge since the incident, so she just needed time on her own. Matt did.

Finally was Jessica. Like Ashley, she was still at home. Since she had been seriously injured she had to stay home for a couple weeks to recover. She was still emotionally drained. All of her sentences had breaks and pauses in them, and the majority of the time, they didn't really make that much sense.

Everyone had experienced panic attacks and night terrors. Matt's had been dying down, but on off days he would wake up in the middle of the night, thinking he was still walking around in those mines. Mike had tamed his pretty quickly, though when he _did_ have them, they were _horrifying._

The worst ones came from Sam and Ashley. Sam was pretty broken, and it was hard to watch, since she was trying _so hard_ to be strong in front of Ashley and Chris. Her attacks were often and intense, alike to Ashley's. Except, when Ashley had an attack, Sam was always there. When Sam had an attack...

Mike had been helping her out the most. Chris and Ashley were too unstable to do too much support at the time, and since Mike had recovered faster then the others, he had been helping Sam. He was also scared for Jessica's mental state, and had set up some sort of volunteer type thing for people to go and help out Jessica when her parents were at work.

Mike tried to be there as often as he could. But when he couldn't, it was normally Matt next. Matt assumed it was because he had been with Jessica through most of the experience, so maybe getting through it with him would be easier. If Matt couldn't make it-which wasn't often-then, surprisingly, Emily would go.

Jessica and Emily were best friends once. You know what they say. A bond can never be broken, only cracked. But all cracks _healed._

But Matt felt broken.

Broken and battered and beaten and left to die.

But _nobody would know that._

Matt looked at the clock in the classroom. People had been watching him for a while, now. Now as much as when it had been his first day. Matt guessed that they had been informed, to some extent, of their situation.

Obviously not all of it. If they had been, they would have been giving Matt a look telling him he was crazy for believing in monsters.

 _Maybe he was crazy._

The bell ringing caused him to sharply intake. Loud noises could do it for Matt. On the first day he had yelped, but he had now toned it down and prepared himself for when the bell would ring. It was all he heard in the mine.

He slipped his backpack around his shoulders and rushed out of the classroom. He had Jessica duty today, since Mike was busy with student council things. Mike had been really thankful that Matt was doing this.

Matt didn't say 'your welcome' or 'no problem'. He usually just stuck to staying:

" _Don't thank me. I would have done it anyways."_

It wasn't meant in an arrogant or malicious way. And Mike appreciated it. He was done begging. He had done too much of that-in his mind of course-during the situation.

He slipped into his car and started it up, the engine roaring to life. He flinched slightly at the noise, forcing his heart-rate down as he pulled out of the school parking lot, heading towards the nearest fast food place to pick up something for Jessica.

After grabbing some food he drove straight to Jessica's house, thinking of what he would do when he got there. Probably get his homework done or something along those lines. Maybe read a book. Matt hadn't done something like that for a long time.

He would most likely stick around till twelve or something. He had to make sure Jessica fell asleep and then didn't have a night terror. Sometimes he would stay later if he was too worried. One time he had stayed the whole night.

He pulled into the girls driveway and exited his car, closing the door behind him with Jessica's house key in hand. There was one key shared across the group of friends, well, more Matt and Mike really.

He entered the house and locked it behind him, perking his ears to see if he could hear Jessica shuffling around or watching television. When he heard nothing, he assumed she was lying in bed. She wasn't asleep, of course. She usually just...stared.

He sighed, dropping his backpack on one of the sofas in the living room before he jogged up the stairs. He walked down a hallway and took a left, entering Jessica's open room.

There she was, lying in her bed. The covers were over her, but she was sitting up straight, staring at the wall like he had predicted. Her breakfast sat on the nightstand to her left. Nothing had been eaten.

He walked over to her slowly, not wanting to startle her as he waved to get her attention.

"Jess?" He called out softly. The girl nodded, keeping her gaze on the wall. It was frightening.

He set the bag of fast food on her nightstand next to the plate of breakfast. He picked that up and shook his head in defeat.

"Jess you have to eat." Matt spoke with a pleading tone. "Don't you want big muscles like me?" Matt joked, chuckling lightly. It was silence afterwards. "I'll be back in a second, I'm just going to take this plate downstairs." Matt explained as he headed towards the door, plate in hand, hoping that once he came back Jessica would be back to the flirty, obnoxious, and rather brash. It had slightly annoyed Matt, but it was true.

You never know what you have until it's gone.

Just as he was about to exit, he heard Jessica softly call out to him.

"Matt..." Matt's train of thought stopped as he twirled around immediately, walking over to Jessica.

"Yeah?" He wasn't really too sure what to say in this type of situation. Usually, when Jessica said something-which was rare-she would stop the sentence half way. It gave Matt hope every time that slowly, but surely, she was recovering.

"...C-can...we...Can we watch a movie?" Jessica asked shakily. She wasn't on the verge of tears or anything like that. Just...scared.

Matt nodded, picking up the fast food bag with the same hand that was holding the plate. It was quite a bit to balance, but it was a necessity, since Jessica never moved from her bed. This was a breakthrough.

"Of course." Matt grinned warmly, reaching out his hand to the girl in the bed. She paused for a moment, the only noise in the room being their soft breathing. Slowly she pulled one of her hands out from under the blankets and slowly reached it over to Matt's hand. Once she made contact, she didn't flinch or anything-which Matt was thankful for-and eventually grabbed it. Her grip was loose and soft, so Matt moved carefully so that her hand wouldn't slip away.

She eventually was standing. Matt felt useless as she pulled herself out of the bed, wondering what type of emotional trauma could send somebody through something as inhumane as Jessica's new routine was.

...Well, he knew what type of trauma it took. He had experienced it.

The duo walked at a slow pace, Matt making sure that Jessica's knees didn't buckle or something along the way. Her mental state wasn't all that great, but with all the skipped meals and her staying cooped up in her bed, her health must have been pretty off as well.

When they made it downstairs Matt watched as Jessica took a seat on the sofa, pulling a blanket over top of her as she snuggled in. He reluctantly let go of her hand to set the bag of fast food on the coffee table. Afterwards he walked into the kitchen and put away the breakfast dish, dumping what hadn't been eaten into the garbage.

He walked back over to Jessica, taking a seat next to her.

"So what do you want to watch?" Matt asked, knowing it wouldn't be anything along the lines of horror. She stared for a few moments, this time at the television screen, and Matt was worried that he had lost her again.

But then she turned to face him, an unreadable expression her face.

"Something...s-something happy Matt." Matt nodded, not surprised by the request. He stood back up from the sofa and walked over to the television. There was a cabinet that contained all of the DVD'S, so Matt opened it up, fishing through it for something 'happy'. It was pretty generic so it shouldn't have been much of a problem.

After he picked a film about some sort of talking hamsters on their journey to fight the evil hamsters **(1)** he inserted it into the DVD player and turned down the volume a bit so that if there was any loud noises they wouldn't be to obnoxious.

Though the movie sounded pretty unappealing, he was looking forward to sitting with Jessica. She was moving today. Finally got out of her room. It was a relief that brought him total bliss.

He took his seat back on the sofa, Jessica keeping her eyes peeled on the screen, barely acknowledging his presence. It sort of bothered him, but at the end of the day, if Jessica was happy so was he.

He reached over and opened up the fast food bag, pulling out two hamburgers and bottles of water. He left his own food on the table, mentally preparing himself. Getting Jessica to eat was going to be a challenge.

"Hey Jess, I got you a hamburger." Matt began, holding the burger in his hands. She didn't respond, still watching the movie. He knew she could hear him. Why didn't she want to eat? How did that help anything?

Or maybe, she really couldn't hear him...

He unwrapped the burger and held it in front of her, hoping she would take it.

"Please Jessica, you have to eat. I don't want something bad too happen to you." Matt pleaded. "For Mike? ...For me?"

After a few moments Matt had given up, but before he could set the burger down, Jessica grabbed it from his hands. She took the tiniest bite Matt had ever seen. Then she took another tiny one. Slowly she was nibbling away at the burger, still keeping her eyes on the screen.

Matt sighed in relief, thanking his lucky stars as he grabbed his own burger and took a large bite.

It was hard sitting through a good hour of colorful hamsters communicating with different animals, but it was tolerable. Jessica had eaten her whole burger, much to Matt's relief, and had even drunk some of her water. She must have been starving.

"...Why?" Jessica's voice had caught him off guard. He set the water bottle down, the one he was currently chugging, and wiped his lips.

"Why what?" Matt countered, confused by the girl's question. She peeled her eyes away from the screen, looking at the floor.

"Why do you come over?" Jessica asked, a small tone of curiosity evident in her voice. Matt's eyes widened, surprised that she would ask that.

"To be with you, of course." Matt mentally kicked himself. That sounded wrong. "Uh, I mean, to take care of you..." Matt trailed off, scratching the back of his neck, hoping he didn't sound like a total douche.

"I can take care of myself." There was no malice behind her voice, so Matt didn't really understand the point of the conversation. But the fact that there _was_ a conversation is what made him happy.

"I know you can." Matt explained. "But, sometimes, we all need to be taken care of." He took another sip of his water, keeping his eyes on Jessica, wondering if she was going to reply or not.

"So whose taking care of you...?" This question caught Matt off guard. He leaned back onto the sofa, wondering about how he should respond.

"...Someone will eventually. After I take care of you, it'll be my time to be taken care of." Matt concluded with, happy with his word choice as he took another swig of water.

"I will." Jessica deduced, laying down so that her head was seated on his lap. Matt almost choked on his water, shocked by the close proximity of the blond. But a smile did find itself across his features, happy that...

He was just really happy.

So they sat and finished off the shitty hamster movie. And even when it was over, they both just laid there while Matt watched television and Jessica slept on his lap. He couldn't stop his eyes from flickering over to her every few seconds, checking if there was a frown or a scared look on her face.

But she slept soundly, and Matt was thankful for that.

Maybe...

Maybe everything was going to be okay.

 **Truthfully I'm not super happy with this chapter. The next oneshot will be a new 'story' and then I'll continue this later.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hallo world! New chappie coming up! MattxJess of course. If you guys have any requests, do inform me, I'd be happy to do it and attempt to meet your expectations! :D**

|Chapter 3-The Football Game|

Description: Jessica always wished she could be a cheerleader when she was younger, but when she discovered how much work it would take, she decided to call it quits. But watching Matt play football now made her wish she hadn't.

"Oh this is going to be good." Mike rubbed his hands together, the frosty night nipping away at his cheeks that were surely rather rosy by now. Nobody had predicted that it would be so cold, but that was the way it was.

Jessica sat next to him, nibbling into a pretzel from the concession stand. This would be the football game to rule them all. Their school team was currently facing off against their biggest rivals, and this came had been hyped up for weeks to come.

Of course, Jessica really had no idea on how football worked. She also didn't really care to know how it worked, and wasn't a huge fan of it in the first place. But she though she owed Matt to come, just like the rest of the group of friends.

Ashley sat to the left of Jessica, every once in a while trying to snag a little piece of Jessica's pretzel since she had forgotten to bring her own money. Jessica scowled, turning away from the girl so she could eat in piece.

"I'm so hungry..." Ashley moped. Jessica rolled her eyes, not prepared to fall for whatever trick this was.

Sam sighed, breaking off a rather large piece of her own piece and handing it Ashley. Since she was sitting next to Mike, she had to reach over to hand it to the blond, forcing Jessica to sit properly back in her seat.

"Aw thanks Sam!" Ashley chirped. Jessica shook her head.

"Oh Samantha. What a good Samaritan you are." Jessica commented. Matt chuckled in the background and Ashley lightly elbowed Jessica in the sighed. Sam merely cracked a grin.

"Why thank you." Sam replied, biting into the remainder of her pretzel contently. Jessica smiled lightly as she continued to nibble into her own pretzel, the three chatting away as she watched the football teams do their warm ups. She narrowed her eyes, searching for one person in particular.

Jessica grinned when she finally found him. Matt was on the far left of the team who were currently running back and forth across the width of the field. The quarterback, somebody Jessica could have sworn she dated around with once, was leading the workout. Matt had informed Jessica that he was the linebacker on the team.

Obviously she had no idea what he was talking about, so she took it upon herself to go home and Google it. Through the helpful, well, help of Wikipedia she came to the result that the linebacker was a defensive player that, in a way, mimicked the quarterback, calling the plays for the defensive players.

Jessica still didn't really understand it. It didn't really matter though. As long as it was entertaining to watch she would be contented.

"Delivery! Delivery!" Chris's voice snapped her from her thoughts as she looked over to her left to see Chris standing with a few drinks, Emily standing behind him also with some drinks. The duo had been sent to get all the drinks for everybody-much to Emily's disdain-and had come back in record time.

"You won't believe how many jokes like that I heard while we were grabbing these drinks..." Emily muttered as she handed Mike and Sam their drinks, Chris handing Jessica and Ashley theirs in turn.

"Must have been rough." Mike commented as he took a sip of his ice cold drink. Chris took a seat next to Ashley, Emily in turn sitting next to him.

"Aw it wasn't that bad!" Chris laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "Em's just over-exaggerating." Emily snorted.

"I'll let you dream." Everyone joined in to laugh while Chris moped in the background.

After a few more minutes of chatter-Ashley decided to tell Jessica about some interesting story she had heard about equality or something-the players began to line up in some sort of formation, signaling that the game was about to begin. Jessica shuffled about in her seat, feeling herself getting excited.

"Oh, Jessica's getting pumped guys!" Mike chuckled at the blond's antics, shaking his head. Sam giggled along with him, Chris not afraid to hide his loud laughter while Ashley tried to stifle her own. Emily merely cracked a smile.

"Shut up Michael..." Jessica growled. Mike whistled, rubbing his hands together for the second time that night.

"Baby's got back." Mike laughed again. Jessica decided to shut up by this point, not wanting to deal with the rest of Mike's obnoxious comments or else she would surely flip out at him.

Jessica watched attentively as the game began. She felt Ashley's head lean against her shoulder, and she adjusted slightly to get comfortable in the position. Chris was trying to be some kind of commentator, pretending Emily was his anchor which clearly the girl wasn't so excited about. Mike and Sam chattered about things Jessica couldn't hear, so she deduced it didn't concern her.

It was the third down and the home team had the ball. Jessica kept her eyes on Matt the whole game, praying he wouldn't get hurt or something along those lines. Some of the boys on the other team were pretty huge. Granted Matt was nobody to be overlooked, but he definitely wasn't as large as some of the other players.

The quarterback yelled some indistinguishable on the field as the play broke out. Somehow somebody on the other team had gotten the ball and now they were making a mad dash for the end zone.

"Shit." Jessica heard Mike mutter.

"And it's not looking too good for home!" Chris used his now empty drink cup as some type of microphone, nervousness bubbling in his stomach as he watched the player approaching their end zone. "Crap."

Jessica kept her eyes peeled. Somebody was pretty close behind the person who was running and was able to zoom past them. They then shifted on their left foot and rammed into the opponent, sending them to the ground.

"Good job Matt." Jessica muttered to herself excitedly, leaning forward in her seat, causing Ashley to have to sit up straight. She was proud of Matt. She didn't know he was such a fast runner either.

"Why did this game have to start so late?" Ashley mumbled, yawning. She was using Jessica's shoulder as a pillow so now she had to lean against the back of her chair. She moved to lean her head against Chris's shoulder who immediately stiffened.

"Wow and this game just got exciting didn't it folks?" Chris croaked out. Emily rolled her eyes, laughing lightly.

"In more ways then one. Right Chris?" Chris growled as Emily laughed again, taking a long sip from her drink.

Time flew by as Jessica found herself enveloped in the game, watching Matt the whole time as everything else had become background noise. The boy, like her, had never been strongly academic. Thankfully Jessica could get by because of her, undeniably, physical features. Matt was similar in that way in that is physical features are what made him good at football.

He was skinny but very muscular and lean, always quick on his feet, not to mention his good reflexes. It made sense that he was linebacker.

So what was going on for Jessica? She wanted to be a model, of course. She had the looks...Right?

Why was she suddenly becoming self-conscious during a friends football game?

"And another touchdown for the home team!" Chris announced cheerfully, Mike standing up to cheer with the rest of the students excitedly. Sam clapped beside him, her eyes flickering towards the score.

"36-36. It's all tied up." Sam read off. It was the fourth quarter, and they were six minutes in, meaning only six minutes left until the game was over. Jessica leaned back in her chair, trying not to show her anxiety for Matt as she kept her eyes on anywhere except for him.

"Aw look! Jessica's scared for Matt!" Ashley said, still in a half-asleep state. Jessica scoffed, crossing her hands over one another.

"Ha! Yeah right. That dumb oaf?" Jessica snickered, shaking her head. She was just there because everybody else was. Matt would be fine without her. It wasn't even like she liked football...

"Whatever you say Jessica." Sam grinned, Mike laughing next to her.

"You too Sam?" Jessica cried incredulously. Chris clapped happily, proud of Sam. Mike patted the girl on the back as Chris continued his god awful commentating.

Emily rubbed her temples, Chris' voice blaring in her ears. She wished she hadn't gone with Chris to go to the concession-even though she did resist quite a bit-because then she wouldn't be stuck sitting next to him.

"Do you have anything to say about this Emily?" Chris asked, leaning closer to the girl, holding the plastic cup close to her mouth.

"Would you shut the hell up?" Emily said sternly. Chris frowned, pulling the cup away.

"Well there goes my anchor." Chris mumbled, shaking the cup around, the ice that hadn't yet melted jiggling around inside. He could still find ways to have fun.

"Guys shut up! There's like two minutes left!" Jessica reminded them, resting her chin against her palm excitedly. Their team was currently on their forth down, heading towards the end zone. This would decide the game.

"Aw fuck." Mike cursed as the player got tackled by the opposition. They lost possession of the ball unfortunately.

"Dammit." Jessica agreed, cursing as well. They had been so close.

"This is hella intense." Sam murmured, leaning back in her chair. "We might be going into overtime." Chris shivered at this.

"Intense." He mumbled into the cup. Emily nodded.

"Indeed." She looked over Chris, seeing Ashley passed out in her chair. "Did Ash fall asleep?" Emily asked. Chris shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Well aren't you going to check?"

"...Do I have too?"

"Oh my god you're insufferable."

Jessica was still focused on the game, wishing that she could get closer. The stands were nice, but a closer view would be more preferable. Matt looked like he was getting pretty tired, he had been out for the majority of the game. _That must mean he's pretty damn good._ Jessica thought hopefully, the corners of her lips turning upwards into a smile.

It was the third down of the opposition. They were nearing the end zone, but there was only thirty seconds left, so all the home team had to was successfully defend the end zone and then drag it into overtime.

With a start the game resumed, the same runner who had broke away during the beginning the day somehow, yet again, obtaining the ball. His speed was pretty good, and he had great reflexes and was able to easily dodge out of the way of others, making up for his speed. Many players darted after him, all being unsuccessful.

It was up to Matt. He sprinted after the guy, the rest of his team becoming pretty useless rather quickly as they were all too slow to keep up with the opposing member. Jessica watched as he quickly caught up with the guy, leaping out and tackling him to the ground.

The blond exhaled in relief, unaware that she was holding her breath. Clearly everybody else in the stand was relieved as well, and there was loud cheering and clapping.

Mike laughed off his anxiety, rubbing his hands together yet again.

"That's Matty boy for you! Carrying the team yet again." Mike blew into his hands and then rubbed them together again, trying to get warm while the sharp air tried to keep him cold. Sam copied his actions, quickly getting cold as well.

"Yeah, he's a lot better then I thought he was." She admitted. "I mean, I've seen him play before, but he's gotten a lot better since the last time." Chris hummed.

"Yeah. He's been out here at lunch practicing a lot lately. He's been super driven, probably since it's his last year and all." Chris explained. Emily arched an eyebrow.

"How do you know? You're always cooped up in the computer lab." Emily reminded the boy, curious about what his response would be.

Chris shook his head, waving his hands in dismissal.

"No I don't come here. Jess does. Ashley always drops off her lunch and then comes to join me in the lab." Chris explained. Jessica was too focused on what was going on so she hadn't been paying attention to what the boy had said, but Emily had heard it loud and clear.

"Jessica? You hang out here during lunch? Why do you have Ashley running around getting you lunch anyways?" Emily wondered. Jessica snapped back to reality, but still kept her eyes on the field.

"I just like it out here. I usually pay for both of our lunches so she runs and gets them and then we study out here for a bit. And then she heads back inside to hang out with tech addict to my left here." Jessica explained, bobbing her head in Chris' direction, still not turning to face them. _She probably really eats here just to watch Matt._

Chris scowled, crossing his hands, accidentally bumping into the sleeping Ashley who moved around in her sleep.

"They're going!" Mike's voice focused Jessica back onto the field as she immediately searched for Matt. This was the fourth down. Fifteen seconds left until overtime, but the other team was cutting it close to the end line. They just had to last fifteen seconds and then the home team had a chance.

The play started before Jessica could even think. This time instead of the super fast guy running with the ball, he disappeared somewhere on the field, camouflaging with all the different players so Jessica couldn't really see where he was. Somebody was rushing with the ball, but Matt was right in front of them, waiting to collide with them, so it all seemed fine.

What Jessica didn't notice was that instead of continuing to rush or passing it off to somebody nearby, the guy threw the ball all the way to the end zone where the super fast guy, with one hell of a lucky catch, caught the ball and rushed into the end zone, scoring the touch down.

"God damn it." Jessica heard Mike mumble as the stands turned to a silence, the thought of losing hovering around. Though losing had been a very real possibility, Jessica hadn't really come to terms with it.

Though it wasn't really that big of a deal, it was a huge deal for Matt. Scouts were out and about, trying to get people for their universities, Matt had told her all about it. He had been anxious, but extremely excited, since football was his one way ticket, and his only ticket, into a good university.

Winning the game didn't mean everything of course. Jessica believed he probably still had a high chance of getting somewhere good. Watching him play now revealed to her that he really was a talented player.

But Matt was different in his way of thinking. He wasn't a sore loser, but he really didn't like disappointing others, nor did he like disappointing his friends or himself. Though Matt had obviously done all he could have done in the spur of the moment, he was the kind of person that would try to bear the whole load.

That was the downside and upside to Matt. He was such a good person that he tried to make other peoples problems seem like his own. And yet, once all those problems added up, the poor boy would start to crumble from all the added stress and whatnot. _Dumb oaf._

Jessica watched as the home team walked off the field, defeated. The coach seemed pretty happy though. Maybe he was happy with the game, which was great because then it would surely make Matt feel better.

"Well. Winning isn't everything." Mike yawned as he stood up from his seat, stretching out. "That was one hell of an entertaining game nonetheless. I'm heading home though because I'm exhausted. Anyone want a ride?" Mike asked, already taking for account that he was driving Sam home.

Chris raised his hand. "One would be much appreciated. And we'd have to take Ashley too since, well, she's asleep." Chris pointed out, Ashley still sprawled out across her seat.

Emily stood up from her seat, straightening her clothes as she shook her head.

"I brought my car, so I'll be fine." Emily deduced.

"Oh, then can I grab a ride with you then? I live closer to you anyways." Chris said, turning to face Emily.

Her expression read that she did not want to take in any part of driving Chris home-well, and Ashley too, since she was sort of a part of the whole deal-but Chris wasn't taking no for an answer.

" _Dude, just drive me home."_ Chris mouthed to the girl, who placed her hands on her hips, annoyed by the boy.

" _Why the hell do you want to go with me so bad?"_ She mouthed back. Chris shook his head, bobbing his head backwards to motion towards Mike and Sam who were currently engaged in a conversation, totally oblivious to the duo's actions.

"Why do you think?" Chris whispered this time. He then winked, as if that would emphasize his point.

"Oh god." Emily shook her head, sighing. "Fine." She turned towards Mike and Sam, speaking up. "I'm taking the nerd herd home. Feel free to do whatever you guys want to do." Emily mumbled, walking away angrily, Chris having to drag the half-asleep Ashley in an attempts to catch up to Emily.

"Well okay then..." Mike mumbled as he watched the trio dart off. He turned to face Jessica, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Do you need a ride home?" He asked. The girl shook her head.

"Nah, I've got my car. Plus I offered to drive Matt home so I can't exactly leave him here." Jessica explained. Mike nodded, nodding to the girl in acknowledgment before he left.

"See you Jess." Sam smiled. Jessica grinned in return. How could you not? It was Sam.

"Bye Sam." And there she was, all alone in the stands of the football field. Well, there were still other students loitering around, but it was pretty cold and it was starting to get lonely.

She left the stands looked around the field, mentally kicking herself to not paying attention to where the team had run off to. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to see through the darkness, wondering where Matt could possibly be.

"There you are." Jessica muttered to herself, surprised that she hadn't seem him before. He was standing right in the middle of the field, his jersey and gear taken off, leaving him dressed in his usual Letterman jacket. In his left hand was his helmet.

Jessica jogged over to the boy, wondering whether to approach him or not. He, most likely, wasn't in the best mood after the devastating loss.

"Matt?" Jessica called out warily. The boy didn't respond.

She walked up to stand next to him, trying to get a look at his face. Matt's features were downcast as he looked at moon. It looked pretty depressing.

"Matt?" She repeated. He didn't respond, and she felt herself getting agitated pretty quickly. "Hey Matt! Jessica has arrived on the scene and you're kind of ignoring her!"

"What?" His tone was stern and cold, and sent a shiver down Jessica's spine. She shook her head, breathing out into the cold night. She could see her own breath, reminding her of how cold it really was.

She placed one of her hands on her hip, looking at Matt.

"Whoa buddy. No need to blow a fuse okay. Just here to talk." She brushed off the boy's anger, stuffing her free hand into her pocket.

"What's there to talk about?" He replied sharply. Jessica grunted, rolling her eyes.

"Well somebodies grumpy..." When Matt didn't respond, Jessica sighed in annoyance. She shuffled about in her spot for a few moments before she took a seat on the ground. At first she thought it was wet, but it was just really cold.

After sitting for a few minutes, Jessica heard Matt turn to face her. She kept her eyes on the moon disinterestedly, though. She already knew what was coming.

"Why are you still here? Obviously I want to be alone." Matt's tone rose significantly from before. Jessica scoffed, annoyed by the 'alpha male' offense coming from Matt.

"Dumb oaf...I'm your ride home." Jessica reminded the boy, vying to lie down on the grass, leaning the back of her head against her palms. Matt growled, quickly becoming agitated with Jessica's antics.

"Listen. I'll meet you at your car okay! I just want a minute." Matt was practically yelling by this point, which made Jessica's blood boil. Who cares if he was sad about losing or not? He didn't have to be a douche about it.

"No, you listen Matthew. Why are you being such an asshole?" Jessica retorted, sitting up from her spot on the ground. Frustration and annoyance was coursing through her veins. Matt was never mean unless he was _really_ angry so the onslaught was sure to commence soon.

"Why? Why?! Why the fuck do you think Jess?" Matt cried, throwing his helmet against the ground in frustration. The noise caused Jessica to flinch as she scrambled off the ground to stand up. The helmet was not anywhere close to hitting her but she didn't want to take her chances. "Maybe we just lost the biggest game of the season? This was my time to shine! You know my grades, they suck! They really, _fucking_ suck!"

Jessica watched Matt with pity as he continued to ramble on. The poor boy was, unfortunately, right. His grades were sub-par, he was struggling with the majority of his classes. Well, except for Physical Education of course.

Matt excelled at practically every sport Jessica could think off. He was rough and tough enough to play games like football and basketball, but calm and focused enough to play games like golf and volleyball. So the blond really didn't know what he had to worry about.

Some people just weren't... _simple_ enough. Everything didn't need to be exaggerated.

A silence followed the outbreak. Matt was now kneeling on the ground, breathing loudly, while Jessica stood. It was late and she was tired and too much was going on for her tired brain.

"You did shine Matt. You should have seen yourself!" Jessica countered. Matt didn't respond, his fingertips playing idly around with pieces of grass.

"You're practically required to say that..." Matt mumbled. Jessica shook her head, laughing lightly.

"Why? Cause we're friends? Just because we're friends doesn't mean I'm scared of telling you the truth. I'll be blunt here, your academics are awful." Jessica said bluntly. Matt grunted, rolling his eyes.

"Wow thanks." He murmured, running a hand through his sweaty hair. Jessica bit her tongue so she wouldn't laugh too hard. This was classic Matt.

"But where you lack in smarts," Matt grunted again. "You make up for it in personality and, obviously, your athletics. I mean take a damn look at yourself Matt! You got a lot of things going for you. Just because you don't get into one university doesn't mean you'll get into another one." Jessica admitted truthfully.

Matt paused, digesting what the blond had just said. Jessica, on the outside, wasn't the nicest person in the world. But she was somebody you could _rely_ on and always had your best interests at heart, even if she never admitted it.

"You always seem to know exactly what to say..." Matt mumbled, smiling lightly as he rose from where he sat, done feeling sorry for himself.

"People say I have a way with words, right Matthew?" Jessica spoke with a flirty tone, winking at the boy. Matt chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever you say." He walked over to the girl, averting his eyes in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry about freaking out at you. Totally uncool of me." Matt apologized guiltily. Jessica shook her head in response.

"Nah, it's fine. I expected it anyways." Jessica brushed him off, snuggling into her coat as she desperately tried to get warm, the cold never leaving the back of her mind. "Just glad to see you not down on yourself. You really did good, okay?" Jessica repeated reassuringly, hoping the boy got the message.

Matt nodded, grinning. "Thanks Jess. I owe you one." Matt stretched out, realizing by this time it was probably pretty late. "So is that ride home still up for grabs or did I 'douche my way out of it'?" Jessica laughed.

"Well if you're quick so I can get the hell home, I think we can break even." Matt chuckled along with her as they began their walk across the field, side by side as they talked about all the crap going on in their lives.

It was nice. Jessica was always a person Matt could rant to. Chris could never deal with all the negativity, Ashley never seemed to be paying attention, Emily quickly became annoyed with the ranting itself, and Mike was too busy for something so unimportant. Well, and there was Sam as well, but she was too busy having everybody else ranting to her.

The poor girl needed a break.

The drive home was in silence. Matt felt himself dozing off, struggling to get a grip on reality. He blinked multiple times, wishing he had some leftover water to splash in his face.

"Just go to sleep Matt. You deserve it, it's been a long day." Jessica's voice startled him slightly, but he quickly scrambled to hide it. The girl didn't even move her head as she kept her attention on the road, and for some reason, it made him feel kind of self-conscious.

But, in the end, he took her advice and got comfortable in his sleep, dozing off in the comfortable leather seat.

When he woke up they were sitting outside of his house in Jessica's car. He checked the clock and it revealed that it was around eleven by this time, shocking him completely by the jump in time.

"What the fuck...?" He looked around the car, trying to shake off the drowsiness etching at him in the back of his mind. When he found out the solution-well, more like reason-to his problem, he smiled.

Jessica slept contentedly, her head leaning against her seat, a smile painted across her face. She was using her jacket as a blank, and the heat was turned up quite a bit.

Matt assumed that the girl had probably just wanted to catch a few minutes of sleep that turned into a couple of hours instead. He shook his head, chuckling lightly as he reached over, prepared to wake the girl up.

As he reached over, he suddenly felt himself fall into a _compromising_ position. He didn't realize when he had gotten so close to the blond's face or why his hand was reaching over her, resting on the door handle.

He shook off the heat rushing through him. What the hell was he doing? Him and Jessica were _just_ friends, nothing more, nothing less. I mean, not to mention the huge crush on Emily he had been harboring for quite a while.

But by this point in time it didn't really seem like she felt the same way.

He sighed, and then snapped back to reality when he realized he was still leaning over Jessica like some kind of creep. Mentally kicking himself for doing something so stupid, he prepared to lean back and shake her awake when his eyes suddenly flickered towards her face.

 _You know, when she isn't yelling stupid shit or being such a bitch, she actually looks pretty cute._ Well, maybe most people wouldn't agree with Matt in that statement, telling him that Jessica looked pretty cute _all_ the time. But now her features were softened and vulnerable, not like her usual caked in make up 'I'm a tough bitch' expression.

"What the hell am I doing?" He mumbled quietly, deciding he had enough of being the overly attached friend as he decided to pull back this time before he did something _too_ stupid.

"Dumb oaf..." Jessica's voice caused Mike to yelp as he immediately moved around in a startled fashion, accidentally banging his head against the car mirror.

"Ow!" He cried, rubbing his head in annoyance. Jessica rolled her eyes, her cheeks rosy in frustration and...something else.

"So some fat-ass layered in padding hurts less then the mirror in my car?" Jessica scoffed, rolling her eyes for second time. Matt arched an eyebrow at the girl.

"Whoa, what's got you so mad?" Matt asked, still feeling kind of weird since he was practically _hovering_ over Jessica. But if he pulled away the blond would immediately noticed and then he would really be in trouble.

"...I've been awake the whole time Matt. Well, you reaching over to assault me it what woke me up to be exact." Matt's face went red at the claim, and he shook his head wildly.

"No! I d-didn't mean to! Uh, I mean, it was just to wake you up!" _Dammit._ Yeah, the situation probably didn't look to great in the girl's eyes, which was perfect for Matt. He was about to move when Jessica made noise of protest and annoyance.

"What?" He asked, the heat in his cheeks dying down as tiredness replaced whatever he had felt before. Yes, whatever he had felt before merely was some kind of side effect due to the hard work today. He certainly didn't _like_ Jessica.

Well of course he liked Jessica! Just not in that... _way._

Just kiss me already

"Huh?" Was all he could say dumbly. He mentally kicked himself. "I mean, pardon?" He repeated, surprised by the light blush that appeared on Jessica's cheeks as her once vulnerable features turned to ones of annoyance and anger.

"Fucking idiot..." Jessica muttered angrily. This time Matt could tell what Jessica had said, but he wouldn't even had to have heard it word by word because the tone just told him it was something negative.

"What? You know, you can't really be a bitch to me if I have no idea what you're talking about." Matt exasperatedly. Jessica scoffed for the umpteenth time that night. It had been an odd night between the two of them. Oddly emotional.

"Just kiss me you dumb-ass!" The sudden declaration had surprised Matt.

Actually, surprise was an understatement. It changed the fragment of reality and screwed up everything he thought he knew. What the hell? Didn't Jessica like Mike? That's what the girl had told him, but clearly, that wasn't the case anymore.

And didn't he like Emily? So why the hell was he leaning in? Maybe it was just a dream. Dreams were very often very weird and odd and emotional, so this could easily explain everything.

...Right?

So when his lips made contact with Jessica's, he instantly concluded it was dream. Of course, it all made sense now. Nobodies lips could possibly taste like that. It was a mixture of strawberry and cherry lip gloss.

Not to mention the heat and warmth building up in his stomach. That was obviously not real, nobody could feel something _that_ nice. Right?

When they both pulled away, the first thing he had done was move to pinch himself. It was total shock when he felt pain.

"What's up with that look?" Jessica asked, her cheeks rosy as she breathed quickly from the loss of air to her lungs through the long kiss. His look-or whatever it was-was starting to make her feel self-conscious. She didn't like that feeling.

"I'm just surprised I'm not dreaming, that's all." Jessica arched an eyebrow at his response.

"The fuck is that supposed to...?" She was cut off by another kiss from Matt.

 **HEYY! So this was an AU oneshot, and I think I came up with a game plan of what this story is going to be.**

 **I'm going to do a rewrite of the main story that'll contain different shippings and then post different oneshots in between. Of course it will mostly be in Matt's POV since we barely see him and Jessica throughout the story :D**


	4. Chapter 4

Description: It's just the lodge where they stayed a year ago, so what changed? What was the haunting feeling everybody felt? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

Matt and Emily aren't dating in this one and the storyline is very different, well, more in away that the characters are kind of switched around. Matt does not like Emily whatsoever, well, in an romantic light. I used the lines from the EmilyvsJess fight scene because they are brilliant :P This is Matt's POV

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING INVOLVING THE UNITL DAWN FRANCHISE. IF I DID, MATTXJESS WOULD BE A THING, AND RIN WOULD BE BADASS. THAT'S AN INSIDE JOKE BTW**_

|Until Dawn-The True Version Part 1|

Matt whistled as he rode the cable car up to the mountain, checking his watch to keep himself occupied. The time red nine o'clock at night, so he had plenty of time before it got too dark.

The snow fell gracefully from the sky, landing on the ground that was now cloaked in white. Matt never imagined he would be back here, at the lodge. The events from last year should have been explanation enough on why nobody else should come up...

And yet, Joshua of all people had sent out the invitations, using the vacation as some kind of closure. Matt wasn't so sure if that was healthy or not, but he was no psychiatrist, so who was he to talk?

So now he was coming up the mountain, alone. To say it was a little creepy would be an understatement, but he wouldn't show it. Not to be some stupid alpha male, but to make sure that nobody else got frightened. Ashley got scared super easily so he would have to keep his worries out her ear.

"Blackwood Pines. Is it really good to be home?" Matt mumbled to himself as the cable car stopped at the top of the mountain. He exited the car, seeing Jessica sitting on the bench, looking around in her phone.

Clearly the girl was unaware of his presence, currently enveloped in whatever social media she was skimming through. Matt grinned as he dropped to the ground, crawling on the wooden floor of the cable car station, the cool night air nipping away at his cheeks.

Thank God that Jessica could be so easily interested by her phone because he hadn't heard him at all, even when he had fumbled slightly. He found himself on the snowy, and rolled over slightly, forming a ball of snow with his hands.

"Okay," He mumbled as he held the snowball in front of him, closing one eye to get a better look at his target. "Aim..." Matt held his breath, the frosty snow turning his palm and fingertips red.

"Fire!" He tossed the snow ball, running for cover behind a tree as he heard a squeal from Jessica, signaling that he had made contact.

"Matthew!" Matt bit his tongue so he wouldn't laugh, a wide grin painted across his face as he heard Jessica walking around in the snow, clearly not very happy. "When I find you I swear to God..."

He knelt down behind the tree and scooped up the snow, quickly forming it into a spherical shape as a new game plan appeared in his mind. He may not out wit Jessica, but he can certainly out speed her.

And it wasn't like she was _that_ much smarter.

Matt yelled a battle cry as he rolled up from where he was hiding behind the tree, locating Jessica quickly and tossing the snowball at lightning speed, catching the blond off guard. She yelped as the snow made contact with her knee.

"There you are!" Before Matt could get away, Jessica threw the snowball, hurtling right at his letter jacket. Unfortunately his reflexes couldn't save him as he felt the snow sink into his chest before it fell to the ground. "And that's what you get!" Jessica crossed her hands over one another, an amused grin plastered on her face.

"Don't fight fire with fire Jess," Matt began as he scooped up more snow, darting to take cover behind another tree. "Or you're going to get burned!" He laughed playfully and threw the snowball at the girl.

But she was able to leap out of the way and take cover behind a nearby picnic bench. Matt used the opportunity to stock up on snowballs, filling his hands with snowballs as different strategies raced through his head.

Deciding to do the good ol' throw until it hits, he stayed behind his tree as he threw the snowball upwards at an arch towards where Jessica was hiding, hoping that it would get somewhere near her.

He didn't hear it hit, but he did hear her yelp, signaling he had got pretty close.

"Matt!" Jessica growled, snowballs in hand as her enemy continued to throw snowballs at a distance. She couldn't get a good angle behind the picnic bench because, well, it was a picnic bench. Matt had an easier time since he was just hiding behind a tree trunk.

She deduced that her best bet would just to play offensive, and with a few snowballs, she darted out from her hiding spot and dashed towards Matt, catching him off guard. She hurtled the snowballs at top speed, all of them colliding with Matt.

"Shit!" He cried, and armed with snowballs, Jessica tackled the boy to the ground. She laughed merrily as she brought the snowballs together and crushed them above Matt's face, all of the snow falling down to cloak his features.

"Aw Jess." He groaned, struggling to get the girl off. It was pretty hard with, you know, the obnoxious amount of snow in his eyes and mouth. But he was able to roll over, with him being on top of her, all the snow stuck to his face falling onto her instead.

"Darn you and your muscles!" Jessica cried as he moved her face from side to side to get all the snow off, breathing heavily from the intense snowball fight. Matt laughed happily from on top.

"And the winner is Matthew the King! All hail me!" He tried to make a trumpet like noise with his voice, but failed miserably, eliciting a giggle from Jessica.

"Good game, good game. I accept defeat." Jessica chuckled, laying against the snow. She hadn't realized until now that Matt was just a few feet away from her, his face hovering over her own. "Matt..." She hadn't meant for the name to escape her lips.

"Huh? What did you say?" The noise of a new cable car coming up cut him off, and he got up from off of Jessica, reaching a hand out for the girl.

She grabbed it gratefully, nodding to him as she walked over to see who was coming.

"Fuck it's Mike!" Jessica said worriedly, brushing all the snow off of her revealing she had just partaken in a snowball war.

"So...?" Matt mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets, confused by her sudden change in persona. Before he could say anything more, Jessica twirled around and began pushing him to where the trail to the lodge was. "Whoa, what's up?"

"You gotta get out of here! Mike's coming!" Jessica said, looking back to see if the cable car had gotten to the top yet. She wanted to make a good impression for her new boyfriend, obviously, and didn't need Matt ruining it.

"Oh...Oh!" Matt said in realization, before laughing loudly. "You just want to impress Mikey Wikey, huh? How cute!" He laughed louder as Jessica scowled.

"Don't ruin this for me Matt! Now shoo!" Jessica ordered dismissively, scurrying back to her spot on the bench, fixing her hair before she sat down and grabbed her phone, trying to act interested in something.

Matt sighed and shook his head, scratching the back of his neck. He grabbed his luggage and set off, he would just say hello to Mike later.

He walked for a few minutes, coming across a bridge on the way. Waves of nostalgia coursed through his body at the sight of the falling snow and the sounds of the wilderness, his earlier worries quickly disappearing to be replaced with a sense of calmness.

Matt walked a little bit longer until he noticed somebody looking through a telescope near the lodge. When he got a better look, he realized that it was Ashley off all people. The girls lips were parted in thought, clearly confused, and intrigued, by what she was seeing.

He set the luggage down and crept silently behind her, realizing this would be another easy scare for him.

"BOO!" He yelled, grabbing her from behind. Ashley screamed at the top of her lungs, struggling wildly before Matt let go, laughing too hard to get proper grip.

The blond spun around angrily, a terrified look on her face as she narrowed her eyes at Matt in annoyance. Her foot was tapping impatiently against the floor, showing how agitated she really was.

"What the hell Matt? You really scared me!" Ashley barked, Matt's laughter dying down guiltily. "God..." She put a hand on her forehead, trying to force her heart-rate down fearfully.

Matt frowned and tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but the girl swatted it away. _Classic Ashley._

"I'm really sorry Ash, I didn't mean to scare you that bad." He admitted. "Forgot that you frightened so easily. Feel like we haven't talked in a while." Matt ducked his head apologetically. Ashley sighed, and moved in to give a boy a hug.

"Nah, I overreacted. It's good to see you too Matthew." She said happily, pulling away after a few moments. Before he could say anything back, she bobbed her head towards the telescope, silently motioning for him to take a look through the telescope.

He nodded and side stepped around her, ducking down so he could get a better look. The way it was positioned made him immediately spot two people hugging in the middle of a plethora of trees that could hide them from everybody.

"Emily and Mike? Didn't they breakup?" Matt asked in confusion, continuing to glance to see if he could catch anything further.

"Yeah, I thought they did. Mike's dating Jessica anyways." Ashley agreed, her thoughts racing on what exactly the two were doing. "Maybe they were just healing old wounds? Their breakup was pretty messy." Ashley reminded the boy, who hummed in agreement.

"Best not to jump to conclusions. I'll ask Mike about it later." Matt decided, pulling away from the telescope, hoping that it was nothing more then a simple reconciliation. If not, Jessica would be heartbroken, and Matt was not okay with that.

He picked up his luggage and looked back at Ashley.

"Do you want to come with me to the lodge, or would you rather spy on the dynamic duo?" Matt asked, smiling lightly. Ashley pondered the thought for a few moments, and then decided to follow.

"Yeah, I'm done here." Ashley admitted, walking down next to Matt. "It would be nice to catch up, I'm pretty sure I was the first one here so we have plenty of time."

The two chatted freely for a bit, Matt asking if Ashley was still interested in becoming an author. After spawning that question, Ashley began spewing out words like rapid-fire, telling Matt of all the things she wanted to write about and read about. Even though it had been a while, the girl hadn't changed a bit.

The events from last year made him lose some of his valuable relationships. Ashley being one of them. Maybe it was God trying to tell him something.

"So how's football, Captain America?" Ashley asked, giggling. Matt shrugged, his luggage in his right hand, his free hand in one of his pockets.

"It's good I think. You know, since my grades aren't all that great, I have really been relying on football to get me to at least a decent university. I don't know if my pops would be too proud, but as long as I can live the dream, I think I'll be fine." Matt admitted.

"Aw, how heartwarming." Ashley chirped. Matt laughed in response, shaking his head.

"I wouldn't use the same term, I think." Matt replied, and the two laughed, their feet sinking slightly into the snow before they took another step. Ashley's cheeks were rosy from the cold by this point, but she didn't seem too cold. "Now, to the more interesting topics, how are you and Sam?" Matt wriggled his eyebrow.

Ashley blushed fiercely and averted her eyes, and fingers wrapping around one another anxiously.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ashley murmured. Matt held up a hand to his ear, cupping it around it as he leaned closer to Ashley.

"Huh? Pardon me? Can you repeat that?" Matt asked, playing around with the girl as he spoke obnoxiously loud, biting his tongue so he wouldn't laugh.

The girl pouted and crossed her hands over one another.

"Jerk..." She muttered. "Well, have you seen Chris and Josh?" Ashley was trying to change the subject, obviously, but Matt decided to let her go.

"Yeah. They're so gay man." Matt laughed, Ashley laughing along with him. "They just need to confess their love and write a book about it already."

"Um, you mean, I'm going to write the book about it." Ashley interrupted. Matt chuckled lightly, patting the girl on the back encouragingly.

"Good work. You're going to go far kid." Matt spoke with a coach like voice, causing Ashley to roll her eyes.

"We're the same age."

"Whatever." Two of them continued to talk until they arrived at the lodge. When they realized nobody was there Matt walked up to the door, placing his hand on the handle with the intention of opening it.

Well that didn't happen.

"The hell...?" Matt muttered as the door didn't budge. Ashley peered over his shoulder, trying to get a better look.

"What's wrong?" She asked, a worried tone in her voice. Matt shook his head, trying to force the door open for a second time, before he realized there was no use.

"I think it's frozen shut." Matt admitted. Ashley groaned and took a seat on the steps, placing her chin on her palm in defeat.

"Great, I'm freezing." Ashley shivered. Matt laughed, taking a seat next to her.

"Well, if you want, we can generate body heat." Matt winked, laughing his head off when Ashley grimaced, turning her away from him.

"Not with you." Ashley retorted, huffing slightly.

"...So with Sam?"

"SHUT UP!" Matt laughed at the girl's reaction, clutching his sides painfully, his laughter filling up the winter night. Ashley fumed as she crossed her hands over one another.

They waited for a few minutes at the lodge, Matt teasing Ashley all the while, laughing at her hilarious reactions until he had decided he had picked on him enough for one day.

They talked aimlessly when Chris, Sam, and the man of the hour, Joshua, appeared. They were talking with one another, only noticing Matt's and Ashley's presence after a moment.

Well, Matt had noticed Sam had noticed Ashley far before the the other morons.

"Hey Ash!" Sam waved to the girl. Ashley ran over to the girl and hugged her, Sam laughing happily as she hugged back.

"Sam! You're so slow." Ashley pouted as she pulled away. "I was stuck here with Matt who decided that bullying me would be a fun pass time." Ashley said innocently, giving Matt a smirk when she was out of Sam's eyesight.

 _That sneaky devil._ Matt thought, inwardly applauding her.

"And what does that mean, Matthew?" Sam asked, crossing her hands over one another, Ashley hiding behind her in false fear. Matt rolled his eyes, but chuckled lightly.

"It's good to see you too Samantha." He replied. She chuckled lightly, nodding in agreement.

"Good to see you." Chris and Josh used the opportunity to approach to door, Chris moving to the handle first, wanting to get out of the freezing cold.

"Here goes nothing." He muttered as he tried to open the door. After there was no response, he pushed against it willfully, hoping it would open this time. He quickly found himself getting frustrated, and tried to force it open one final time, realizing there was no given with this door. "It's not opening." Chris said simply, almost comically so.

Josh shakes his head, holding a key in his hand. "It's because it's locked, dumb-ass." He didn't know Matt's frown from a few feet away and Ashley's chuckling. "Oh, but it is frozen." Matt smirked at Ashley which shut her right up.

"Just our luck." Chris muttered, rubbing his hands against his arms to get warm. "Maybe we can just break in? Ya know, just give it a good...one two." Josh laughed, nodding in agreement as he patted Chris on the back, causing Chris to cough loudly.

"Good thinking buddy, I knew those glasses made you a little bit smarter." Josh joked, turning to face the remaining three. "Okay boys and girls, Chris and I are going to try and break in to the good old Washington lodge!" Josh announced as he walked off of the steps, looping around the corner.

Chris followed him, turning around with a jokingly cautious look on his face. "We don't know what the terrors that lie there could be, so remember to clap, because it powers us up!" And with that comment, Chris jogged after Josh, leaving Sam, Matt, and Ashley laughing.

"Chris hasn't changed a bit." Matt said. Sam took a spot next to Ashley a few steps above him, nodding in agreement.

"Yep, and you haven't missed much in the luxury life of Josh." She laughed, leaning against the railings, Ashley picking at snow nervously beside the girl. _Ashley, you're so obvious._ Matt thought, grinning.

"So, how are you Sam? Still a total pacifist?" Matt asked, leaning his back against the railing, laying his legs against the steps comfortably.

"Don't tell me you thought it was temporary. Yeah, I'm just same ol' Sam, living the dream." Matt laughed at this one, Ashley giggling softly from the side, as if laughing too loud would trigger an earthquake.

"And Ashley still wants to be a writer, I was talking about it with her earlier." Matt inwardly laughed as Ashley's eyes went wide from the topic switching to her. Sam nodded in agreement, looking over at Ashley happily, the girl becoming red under her gaze.

"Yeah, I've read a few of her drabbles here and there. You're better then you give yourself credit for Ash." Sam grinned. Ashley nodded slowly, smiling.

"Thanks Sam." Matt watched as Ashley switched from socially inept to active in a matter of moments, and decided to stay out of the two's conversation. He leaned his head back against the railing, closing his eyes in thought.

The opening of the front door caused him to open his eyes as he looked up to see Chris at the door.

"Ta da!" Chris waved his hands in a magical fashion, before he bowed dramatically. "Magic Chris at your service." Sam and Ashley clapped while Matt shook his head, standing up from his spot.

Josh walked around the corner, clapping as loudly as Sam and Ashley.

"Don't forget his lovely assistant, Mr. Washington!" Joshua announced, bowing lowly as well. Matt decided to clap this time, mostly out of pity since nobody else was.

Sam started booing jokingly, causing Josh to scowl, but he shook it off a grin, signaling he was just joking. Everybody entered the lodge together, Sam and Ashley taking a spot on the sofa.

"Looks pretty good up here." Matt admitted as he set his luggage on the ground, noticing it was still rather cold inside, which was to be expected. Sam shrugged.

"Well, it looks the same as the last time we were here." Sam added. Ashley rubbed her hands against her own shoulders, trying to generate some heat.

"You know, it's still pretty cold, but not as bad as it was out there." Ashley said. Josh took that as a signal to get a fire started, for he walked over to the fireplace.

"I'm going to start a fire, for the lovely Ash of course. Chris you want to help?" Josh asked. Chris nodded, which everybody expected, and he followed Josh as the two got started.

Matt took his own spot on a seat, watching Emily walk in through the front door.

"Hey Em!" He greeted, waving to his good friend. Emily was the person who he talked to the most during the aftermath of the Hannah and Beth disappearance. Sure, she was kind of a bitch, but that was really only on the outside. Though it did get significantly worse after her breakup with Mike.

"Matt," Emily placed her hands on her hips, a disapproving look on her face. "What happened to helping me with my luggage, huh?" A blank expression appeared on Matt's face before he made a sound of realization, ignoring Sam's and Ashley's giggling in the background.

"Oh shit..." He muttered, scratching his head in embarrassment.

"Oh shit is right. You owe me." Emily said harshly, but a smile appeared on her face as she set down her own luggage, looking around the now slightly warmer lodge. "Good to see you guys too." Emily nodded towards the two sitting on the couch along with the boys setting up the fire.

"Good to see you too Em." Sam replied, smiling warmly. Emily took a spot next to Matt, and the two chatter aimlessly for a few minutes while Sam and Ashley talked.

"I saw you with Mike earlier." Matt admitted, leaning back against his seat, wondering how he should go about this. Emily arched an eyebrow.

"And what do you mean by that?" She asked dangerously. Matt shook his hands, trying to do damage control. That was a stupid comment.

"I mean that you guys were hugging earlier, just wanted to ask what it was about is all." Matt said calmly. Emily still looked unsure, but sighed.

"That's a good question. It was just a sort of reconciliation, I think." Emily sighed for the second time, looking tired way too early into the night.

"You never know with Mike." Mike was a nice guy, but had a poor track record when it came to women. He was good with them, good talk with them, treated them right for a bit, but always ended up fluttering on by to somebody else. _Commitment issues._ Matt was sure of it. "Anyways, tonight's the night we party and don't give a crap about Mike's poor life choices." Matt grinned.

Emily smiled as well, not being able to help it. Matt's grin was rather infectious, she would know, it got her through a lot of shitty times.

"Matt, I..." Emily was cut off when two people entered lodge, the remaining two guests as Blackwood Pines.

"The king is here! Everybody stand and cheer!" Mike called out, his hands in the air. Jessica walked in behind him, her own hand raised in the air.

"It's time to get this party started." Jessica continued obnoxiously, the two louder people joining the whole group. Everybody greeted them, Jessica taking a seat on the other end of the sofa Sam and Ashley were currently sitting on. Mike walked over to Josh, giving the boy his greeting before he began his walk back over to Jessica.

"Hey Mike, haven't seen you in a while." Matt greeted with a smile. Mike smiled in response. The two boys had become pretty good friends since the incident, both being on the football team required them actually _speaking_ to one another anyways. They weren't super tight, but they were good friends.

"Matty, good to see you too buddy. How was the walk up?" Mike asked as he took his seat next to Jessica, the girl snuggling right into his arms.

It bothered Matt slightly, but he didn't have a clue as to why. And Emily definitely wasn't happy with it either, since her breathing was quickening and her hands balled into fists. _Oh shit._

"Uneventful. Ran into Ashley and we looked at stupid stuff before coming up. Not to mention I scared the living crap out of her." Matt decided to leave out the part with Jessica, and the girl smiled gratefully at him from across the room.

Emily's fists got tighter.

Ashley made a sound of protest. "It was awful. You know, you really scared me Matthew!" Ashley complained, a pouting look on her face. Sam laughed along with Matt.

"Come on Ash, just making memories." Matt replied with a smile and a wink, causing the girl to growl further.

"Okay Matt, that's enough. Too much more and Ashley will explode." Sam said, shaking her head humorlessly at poor Ashley's teasing. The girl currently being teased sighed, leaning back against the couch.

Matt and Emily continued to talk, but Matt felt Emily's eyes flickering over to where Jessica and Mike were 'snuggling'. More or less it was full out sex. Okay, so maybe Matt was over-exaggerating, but he definitely knew that Emily was extremely bother by it.

"Oh my God, that is too gross." Emily finally commented, and Matt inwardly sighed, knowing that the bomb had erupted and he had been to late to stop it.

"Fuck..." He muttered silently as Emily stood up, crossing her hands over one another as she glared at Jessica. At least the two had stopped making out and making weird noises or else it would be a very interesting night.

"Listen, I'm not here to enter your territory, so you don't have to fuck in front of me every time I see you guys." Emily spat bitterly. Matt stood up from his own seat, reaching over to grab Emily's hand.

"Em, it's fine. Let's just go." He said quietly, hoping the girl would hear him. Thankfully, she didn't pull away, which must have meant something.

Jessica's eyes widened as she saw Emily get surprisingly calmer as Matt held her hand. They weren't dating, right? No, of course not, Matt had told her that. For some reason, Matt holding Emily's hand had pissed her off more then the girl getting overly-jealous for the thousandth time.

"Excuse me, did you say something?" Jess growled, rising from her own spot next to Mike on the sofa to get closer to Emily. She was ready to throw down, she was not shitting around this time.

"What? Did you not hear me? Or is your sluttiness to loud?" Emily replied, almost in a jokingly cruel manner. Jessica snorted, crossing her hands over one another as she looked back at Mike for reassurance.

"Guess somebodies upset they didn't make the cut." Jessica laughed, walking closer to Emily. Matt thought it was too close for something not to go down.

"Yeah, it's all a big cat call with that dreamboat. Congratulations, you're top cow!" Emily clapped, a looking of irritation on her face. Jessica shook her head, and Mike sat on the couch, finding this fight overwhelmingly funny.

"Can't really call the Homecoming Queen a cow, can you?" Jessica was prepared to rub in what she got, even if it involved a low, and sort of stupid card like Homecoming.

Matt shook his head, seeing that Mike wasn't going to be doing anything any time soon. He stepped in between of the two girls, holding each one of his hands out to one of them defensively, signaling they should both stop.

He looked towards Emily, giving her a pleading look.

"Please Em, can we stop?" Matt begged. Emily looked like she was going to falter for a few moments, before Jessica cut in, just like she always does.

"Stay out of it you dumb oaf!" Jessica yelled, causing Matt to visibly grimace. Emily pushed passed him, becoming more threatening then before.

"Hey watch it!" Emily spat. Jessica laughed.

"What? You're the only one who can put him down? Nobody else can play with your toys?" Jessica's tone was condescending and ruthless, as if she knew something nobody else did. Emily grunted, before her eyes widened in realization. She quickly narrowed them again, pretending like nothing happened.

"Oh I see what the problem is here." It was Emily's turn to be condescending as she walked circles around Jessica, who looked at her with a confused expression.

"Yeah, and what is that bitch?" Jessica asked, holding her ground, not sure where Emily was going with this one.

The girl shrugged, looking away before shrugging again. "Oh, I don't know," She paused, looking at Jessica with a fake thinking expression. "I just didn't know that maybe you wanted a _turn_ with my toys Jessica." Emily said that almost in a whisper, so that Mike and Matt couldn't exactly hear what she was saying.

Jessica took a step back at the accusation, before becoming furious with the girl. "Whatever," She brushed off, just wanting to take a seat next to Mike. Emily stifled a laugh, but not successfully, provoking Jessica further. "I don't give two fucks about what you think." Jessica sat back in her seat with Mike, snuggling right back into him with a smirk painted across her face. Emily rolled her eyes.

"At least I can think. 4.0 honor roll bitch!" As quickly as Jessica had sat down, she stood right back up, leaving Mike with a pissed off look on his face.

"Who needs grades when you have all the natural assets you need?" Jessica asked, moving in a specific way that rubbed off her, _eh_ , assets.

"Oh please."

"You couldn't buy moldy bread with your skanky ass." Mike chuckled lightly at this one, and Matt had to bit his tongue to stop himself from laughing as well. Merely because the insult was so _awful._

"Are you serious? Do you think that's insulting?" It was like Emily had read Matt's thoughts, and he inwardly applauded her. Jessica seemed to be running out of ideas, for she turned back to Mike and pointed at Emily angrily.

"Do you hear this girl? Bitch is on crack or some shit." Matt decided to intervene for a second time, digesting that Mike _really_ wasn't going to do anything useful at this point in time.

"Okay, that's enough!" Matt's voice echoed throughout the lodge, attracting everybody's attention easily. "Listen, we're supposed to be here for a reason, okay? And that's to have fun, just like Josh said. We don't need to ruin the night with stupid cat fights. You guys are better then this, really." Everyone stayed quiet after this, Josh stepping up behind Matt, shooting the boy a grateful smile.

"Matt's right, there's no reason to fight like this, okay guys. What I wanted is for us to have a good time. So let's just settle down, and cozy around the fire." Josh said in a finalizing tone, everybody nodding in agreement. "Good work Matty, you know how to calm the ladies." Josh winked, causing Matt to roll his eyes.

"I wish." He replied, taking his seat back on the couch, thankful that everything was over with.

Emily shook her head in frustration, just needing to cool off.

"I'm going to take a bath." Emily said as she jogged up the stairs, heading into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

"Em!" Matt called after the girl, sighing when he heard the slamming door. He fell back into his seat, wiping his forehead, already feeling way to exhausted.

"Good, that bitch is gone." Jessica muttered. Matt rolled his eyes, Jessica scowling when she noticed. _Dammit, now Matt's mad at me._

 _Wait, why the hell do I care?_

"Uh, Josh. Do you still have the key to that guest cabin? Me and Sam were wondering if we could check it out." Ashley's question came out of the blue, her and Sam staying out of the whole fight. He looked at the two for a few moments, before smiling in that Josh way.

"Yeah, sure." He said in a sexual tone, making Matt want to laugh at Ashley's face and Sam's obliviousness. He came back with the key and threw it two the girls, who left the house with a wave goodbye, leaving the rest with the now started fire.

"Aw fuck!" Chris cried as he searched through his bag. Josh walked over, hovering over Chris to see what exactly the problem was.

"What's up bud?" He asked, trying to get a peek into Chris' bag. Chris groaned, shaking his head at himself in disappointment.

"My phone's missing. I must have left it on the bench when I came up here with Sam." Chris thought back, hoping that he was right in that assumption.

Josh laughed, finding it all too funny as he opened the front door, motioning for Chris to leave.

"We'll find it together. Shouldn't take too long, I think." Josh suggested. Chris smiled gratefully.

"Awesome, thanks Josh." Chris walked out of the door.

"Okay guys, we'll be back in a few." Josh called out as he closed the door behind him, unknowingly-actually, knowing Josh, he probably knew _exactly_ what he was doing-left Matt with the _lovely_ couple.

Thankfully, Emily came down from upstairs to break the awkward tension. Actually, it only made it worse, but Matt felt better with somebody other then people who wanted to make out every five seconds.

"Hey Matt? Is Josh still here?" Emily asked as she walked down the steps, not acknowledging Jessica's presence. Matt shook his head, much to the girl's dismay. "Dammit."

"What's up?" He asked curiously. She sighed, shaking her head, cursing her misfortune.

"The hot water isn't working." She explained.

This was when Mike, surprisingly, made his entrance. He stood up from the sofa and walked over to Emily, a friendly grin painted across his face. He probably just wanted to apologize for Jessica's favor. Or do damage control. Probably a mixture of both.

"Oh, I know where the boiler room is. I can take you there and we can get the hot water turned on." Mike explained. When Emily gave him a questioning look-which was threatening along with the death glares he was receiving from Jessica-he shook his hands. "Don't worry, I'm not pulling anything stupid. Just want to get this over with." He admitted.

Emily and Matt exchanged looks. When Matt gave her a look of approval, she shook her head, but complied.

"Okay, but make it quick. You probably want to get back to sucking face with Goldilocks A.S.A.P." The comment merely made Mike laugh, but Jessica didn't feel the same way.

But before she could say anything, Matt cut her off.

"How about Jess and I go looking for something to do? Maybe there's something interesting." Matt suggested. Mike game him a thumbs up, happy with the idea.

"Yeah, there's always something good in a creepy old lodge. Have fun." Mike waved, winking at Jessica who blew a kiss in return.

Matt waved at Emily, mouthing for her to call for him if she needed anything. She nodded and turned away, following Mike down to the boiler room.

"Your girlfriend better not pull anything dirty or I swear to God Matt." Jessica growled as Matt began searching around the lodge, deciding to head upstairs first, looking for some kind of games room or something.

"First of all, she's not my girlfriend. Second of all, why are you being such a bitch?" Matt asked, opening a door that revealed a guest room. He decided he might as well search it, Jessica taking a seat on the bed. He quickly realized this was going to be a one man effort, unfortunately.

"Well, I don't know, maybe because she's got an obsession with my boyfriend?" Jessica wondered bitterly. Matt sighed, really not wanting to talk about it, but knowing there was no way to tell Jess to politely shut up or else she would get mad at him.

"Well, look at things in her shoes. She was dumped by her player boyfriend for some hot chick. It's got to be pretty rough." Matt said, almost carelessly, too tired to watch over his words too carefully. He didn't even notice Jessica blush lightly at his words, before she forced the heat down, mentally kicking herself for blushing over something so stupid. _Well, he's right. I am hot._

"Whatever..." She trailed off, kicking her feet lightly against the bed post as Matt continued to search. When he came up with nothing, he left the room, Jessica scrambling to catch up.

"Wait!" She called after him, to see him waiting in the hall with an amused look on his face.

"What? I wasn't going to go hop off a cliff or something. You scared?" Matt chuckled, continuing down the hallway, a now irritated Jessica behind him. She snorted.

"Ha! No, of course not. There's nothing scary about this lodge." Jessica brushed the boy off. She really wasn't scared at all. Really. She wasn't Ashley. Just because they were both blond didn't mean she was just as scared.

"Whatever you say..." Matt grinned, walking into another room, fishing through it for anything interesting. After a few moments, Jessica was about to start a conversation when Matt made a noise of approval.

"What?" She asked curiously, hovering over him. In his hands was a spirit board, one of those really stupid cheaply made ones that Jessica knew were totally fake. "Oh, that stupid thing?" Jessica muttered, rolling her eyes in disinterest, even though she really was more curious then Matt.

"Oh don't try me Jessica. I know you're just as interested as me." Jessica scowled. _How can this guy read my thoughts? Fucking creepy if you ask me._ She sighed as she stood up.

"Well, I guess this is as good as it gets." Jessica said, looking at a closet when she noticed something that looked like a mask. She pulled it out, and at a closer look, it was actually rather terrifying. That in turn gave her a good idea. "Matt, put this one." Jessica said, handing him the mask.

Matt looked at the mask with a look of confusion, but grabbed it reluctantly. He held it closer to his face, before pulling it away with a grimace.

"Gross. Smells like road kill." He muttered in disgust. Jessica rolled her eyes, motioning for him to continue.

"Don't be a pussy." She chastised. Hesitantly, he placed the mask on, Jessica grinning when he saw what he looked like.

"Perfect. You look absolutely horrifying." Jessica grinned, rubbing her hands together expectantly. Matt pulled it off after a few seconds, giving the girl a questioning look.

"Well, thanks for the compliment." He huffed, holding the spirit board in one hand and the mask in the other. Jessica shook her head, smiling.

"No problem, no problem. Now, here's the plan..."


	5. Chapter 5

|Until Dawn-The True Version Part 2|

Description: Spirit talking and love watching wasn't on Matt's resume.

 **Hey guys. This was originally going to be a JoshxChris and SamxAshley, but I realize that later on in the story this may be a slight problem. So, I'm going to let you guys choose. Tell me if you either want JoshxChris and SamxAshley or SamxJosh and AshleyxChris**

"And presto! The boiler is fixed!" Mike declared, Emily looking at it approvingly.

"Wow, I'm shocked. You did this pretty quickly." Emily admitted. Mike shook his head, placing his hands on his hip, looking away distantly with a dramatic look.

"Don't count me out, Em. I'm really quite good at everything." Emily rolled her eyes, laughing lightly as she prepared to get upstairs, happy that things weren't unbearable between Mike and herself anymore. The reconciliation had really worked. "You know, Em..."

"AH!" Emily screamed, running backwards, nearly slamming into Mike. There before them stood a rather tall man, holding a baseball bat, adorned in a mask and a black robe. He immediately chased after Mike and Emily, the two scrambling around the basement, fearing coursing through their veins.

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit._ Emily thought as she tried to think of a way to loop around the maniac so she could run back upstairs. When they got to a certain room, she was able to circle around a table and run past him, Mike right in front of them.

They darted frantically up the stairs, Mike nearly losing his footing. He was able to catch himself, and they both ran upstairs to the living room, prepared to dart right out of the lodge and call for help.

"Wait! Wait guys it's me! Matt!" Matt yelled after them, starting to think that his initial instinct was right and that this wasn't such a good idea. He took of the mask and dropped the baseball bat on the floor, holding his arms up like a criminal caught in police fire.

Well, with the death glares he received from Emily, that's really what it felt like.

Thankfully, Mike's loud laughing eased the tension as he walked over and patted Matt on the back approvingly, all fear being chased away when he realized it was merely just Matt pulling prank.

"Nice one dude. I'm assuming Jessica came up with it?" Mike asked. Matt merely nodded hesitantly, still horrified by what Emily's response would be.

As if on cue, Jessica stepped out from where she was hiding, inwardly scolding herself for not recording the hilarious events. She clapped loudly, walking over to Matt to pat him on the back.

"Good work, Matty. I'm impressed." Jessica admitted. Matt smiled in response while Emily snickered in the background. "What's so funny Emily?" Jessica asked, over-sweetly as she narrowed her eyes at Emily.

"Whatever. I'm taking my bath." She muttered, jogging up the stairs, anxious to get bath to her bath. Jessica sighed in relief, happy that the girl was finally gone.

"Alright girls," Mike said, clutching the spirit board. Matt rolled his eyes after being called a female. "Let's go talk to some ghosts, why don't we?" Jessica cheered in response, clutching onto Mike's arm as the duo walked upstairs, leaving Matt at the bottom of the steps.

"How did I get myself into this situation?" Matt mumbled under his breath, wishing he had gone to the guest cabin with Sam or Ashley. Actually, that probably would have made him feel like he was intruding as well.

Maybe he should have followed Josh and Chris? Nope, he would still be the ignored third wheel most likely. He should have dragged Emily somewhere with him so he wouldn't be alone...

"Matt are you coming?" Jessica called from upstairs, wondering what was taking the boy so long. He hummed in response, and began his plight up the stairs, hoping this evening wouldn't be too love filled for his single mind.

They all gathered in the room next to where Emily currently bathing. Matt, admittedly, was kind of looking forward to it. Talking to ghosts was on his bucket list, you could say. Of course, it was an oddity to him why the group of three were communing with ghosts on a mountain cut off from the outside world.

Well, it wasn't like anything could go wrong.

Matt took a seat to the right of Mike, whose chair was pulled up _extremely_ close to Jessica's. He shuddered, hoping they weren't doing anything funny under the table as he set up the spirit board, starting to think that this was a bad idea.

After everything was done, he took a deep breath, placing his hand on the pointer. He looked at the duo expectantly, only to realize that they were to enveloped into each other to give Matt the time of day.

"Hey love birds! Are we going to play or not?" Matt asked, wondering whether to just leave them alone or not. Jessica snapped back to reality, an apologetic look on her face as she nodded eagerly, placing her hand on the pointer so that their fingers were touching.

Matt knew that was going to happen, so it didn't bother him. Plus, just because Jessica was of the female gender didn't mean he had to have hormonal problems every time she touched him. But, oddly enough, it was kind of nice.

Jessica was on the opposite end of the spectrum. She had to _force_ her blush down so that Mike wouldn't see. _The hell is wrong with me?_

Mike put his hand on, he and Jessica looking at Matt as if he knew what he was doing. When he shrugged in response, Jessica rolled her eyes and decided to take charge.

"Is anyone out there?" Jessica asked, starting off without anybody else's input. When nothing happened, as she expected, she was slightly disappointed. "What a let down..."

Right as the words came out of her mouth, the pointer jeered over to the 'H', before wildly moving over to the 'E', eventually spelling out the word 'HELP'.

"Ha-ha, really funny guys." Jessica laughed, shaking her head at the pathetic display. But when the boys both gave her blank looks, she stopped laughing. "Guys, seriously, I'm not falling for it."

"Listen Jess, I have better things to do with my time then play with a fake spirit board. Why would I try to fake this?" Mike asked as if it was obvious it hadn't been him. Matt nodded along with him, signaling he hadn't been the one who moved the pointer.

"I didn't do it. Just ask it another question." Matt suggested. Jessica nodded, clearing her throat as her eyes darted back over the the pointer.

"Uh...Who needs help?" Jessica spoke with an unsure tone, watching the other boys carefully to see if they were going to move. The pointer moved more robotically this time, eventually spelling out a new word.

"Sister? What the fuck?" Mike muttered, exchanging looks with Matt, who looked just as put off.

"Guys, maybe this is a bad idea." Matt mumbled, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand. "This better not be some stupid joke you two are pulling on me." That could have been a very real possibility, in Matt's eyes. Why not pick on the odd one out? Especially with the fact that Mike and Jessica were in a relationship and both loved a good scare or joke.

"Are you kidding me?" Jessica rolled her eyes, annoyed that Matt thought they were messing around with him. She was pretty scared as well. "I think we should continue. How about you Mike?" Jessica asked her boyfriend, deciding to let him be the swing vote.

He nodded firmly. "Let's continue, definitely." An eerie feeling filled the room after the words left his mouth, as if the spirit they were talking to right now was hovering around them, grasping onto bits and pieces of their conversation. Would the ghost be able to understand the human tongue anymore?

Jessica swallowed anxiously, licking her lips afterwards. "Who are you?" Jessica asked vaguely, hoping something useful would come up.

"Here we go again..." Matt muttered under his breath as the pointer moved again this time, returning back to its original craze. The pointer first moved to the 'H', and then moved to 'A', and immediately Jessica knew where this whole thing was going. "Holy fucking shit." Matt swore when he saw the name spelled out.

"Hannah?" Mike said the name warily, fear bubbling up in his stomach. It was far quicker for Jessica, an inhuman feeling spreading throughout her body like wildfire, catching on to different bones and organs.

"Okay guys, this isn't fucking funny anymore." Matt's tone rose in a mixture of fear and anger. This wasn't a funny joke;the punchline was all wrong and it left Matt feeling raw. It was far worse since this was the lodge, this was _Blackwood Pines,_ where Hannah had disappeared.

"Listen Matt, I don't know why you've come to some stupid ass conclusion that we are messing around, but we're fucking not!" Jessica barked, quickly getting irritated with Matt's constant accusations. _Can't believe I thought I liked this guy...WAIT WHAT THE FUCK?!  
_ Jessica shook her head fiercely, mentally berating her for thinking such stupid things like that. Matt was nothing more then a friend, and right now, he was being a douche bag. She needed to get angry, get pumped, get Mike-the boy she really liked-to step in.

"Seriously, we have no reason to fuck around you. Now Jessica, ask what happened to her." Mike said in a pleading tone, clearly looking for closure. Jessica wasn't sure if a spirit board was the place to find it.

But she complied. "Hannah, how did you die?" Jessica's voice slightly wavered throughout the statement, feeling the guilt from last year washing over her again. It was _her_ fault Hannah was dead. _Her fault._

Matt noticed the waver in Jessica's voice, and also noticed that Mike had ultimately ignored it. Mike was always a boy who was afraid of committing to somebody, but was he _really this afraid?_

Suddenly the pointer flew off of the table, and Matt had had enough. He rose from the table, eliciting a slight squeal from Jessica who was frightened by the turn of events, and stormed out of the room. He didn't care if it was a joke or not. He just needed a breather.

"Wait Matt!" Jessica rose up from her seat, chasing after the boy, not sure if she was either worried or angry with him.

Mike rose up afterwards, reaching his hand out. "Jess!" He called after the girl, but it was no use, she was already chasing after the boy.

Mike shook his head in defeat, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he looked at the spirit board again.

"Library..." He remembered. Those were the words that had been spelled out before the pointer had somehow flown right off of the table, crashing into the ground before seemingly disappearing into thin air. It most likely didn't, but he couldn't find it now. "This is crazy."

Mike sighed and walked out of the room, not sure where Matt or Jessica had went. He hope they didn't get too far, and walked down the stairs at an easy pace, knowing that Matt wouldn't pull anything too reckless and would reel Jessica back in if she got too crazy.

"Jess! Jess!" He called out, hoping the worry in his voice wasn't evident as he searched around for the girl, until he noticed that some sort of... _secret passage_ had opened up next to the bookshelf. Whatever it was, it hadn't been there before. "Well, here goes nothing..." Mike muttered as he walked in, hoping to find his girlfriend sooner then later.

Matt and Jessica walked through the secret passage, Mike quickly leaving their minds as the curiosity of the new part of the lodge filled their minds. Who the hell has a secret passage in their lodge?

The duo had found it randomly. Jessica was trailing Matt, yelling for him to come back, in which Matt defied. He ended up stumbling and knocking into a bookcase, some of the books crashing down on him. Jessica had spotted a button that had been hidden behind them, and had, expectantly, immediately pushed it.

That revealed the strange new area that frightened the two friends to no end. But, something about it pulled them in, made them feel like they _needed_ to go in. So they did, Matt leading the way with Jessica trailing slightly behind.

"God this is creepy." Jessica mumbled, not realizing Matt had stopped until she bumped into him. She stumbled slightly, but caught herself, looking at Matt's back angrily. "Hey, what's the big idea?" She asked, sidestepping around him too see he was currently holding a picture in his hands.

"Hannah and Beth..." Matt shivered as the names left his mouth, identifying that it was, in fact, the two twins in the sister. The fact that they looked happy and _grateful to be alive_ formed self-hatred in Matt's stomach. He had, indirectly, ripped away their futures. Ripped away their dreams, their hopes, their family.

They had died too young.

Flipping around the picture revealed a horrifying note, causing Jessica to flinch away and for Matt to nearly drop the picture.

"'I will take them and bleed them like pigs, and rip their soft white skin off. Fucking sixteen years. Sixteen years I waited for pretty little Hannah and Beth..." Matt read off, trailing off afterwards, not sure of what to say. After Matt just stayed staring at the note, Jessica started to get worried for the boy, and swatted the picture out of his hands.

He didn't react though, still staring in the same spot, wondering what exactly could be going on.

"Matt! Matt!" Jessica shook the boy's shoulders, trying to bring him back to reality, wondering to herself if they were even in reality. She shook her head, shaking away her own thoughts as she continued to shake Matt. "Matt! Matthew!"

Matt looked up suddenly, his eyes back in focus as he moved away from Jessica so she would stop shaking him.

"Sorry, just spaced out for a moment there." Matt mumbled an apology, an eerie feeling following him where ever he went, repeating every word he spoke in his mind. The noises of the lodge echoed, even though it was nothing more then Jessica's breathing. Well, and his own.

"A moment? More like an hour." Jessica scowled, shaking her head disapprovingly. Matt sighed, scratching the back of his neck, trying to make sense of the situation.

"I'm sorry." Matt said, more genuinely this time as he looked around the secret passage, wanting to now return to the lodge.

"Whatever, let's go get Mike. I'm getting scared." Jessica admitted, turning back towards the door, anxious to leave wherever they were. As she walked over, she heard a scream channel through the lodge, bouncing off of the walls before they reached her ears. Her eyes widened, her mouth agape as she recognized the voice immediately. "Mike!" She cried out, getting frantic.

"Oh shit!" Matt cursed as the door started rumbling. Jessica sprinted over, a small inkling within her telling her that there was a strong possibility that it was Mike trying to get in, trying to get away from something.

"Jess!" Matt rushed over her as the door opened, and he almost sighed in relief when he thought it was just Mike. But when Jessica suddenly yelped and the door slammed shut, a whole new tremor of terror shook his body as his rush turned out into a crazed dash.

He slammed his body right into the door, pain eating away at his side as he continued to throw himself into the door, praying it would open soon. Jessica's cries for help were loud and had the clear tone of being _terrified._

Matt stepped away from the door, and with a start, he sprinted towards the door, hurtling himself towards it, breaking through. Immediately he noticed that Jessica was lying on the ground, and look frantically around for the person who had grabbed her.

Before he could even think a proper thought a fist made contact with his head, knocking him out immediately. His limp body fell to the ground, now battered and bruised from the course of events.

Matt was knocked out cold, but somehow he could hear Jessica's body slowly be pulled away from him. He had failed. _Again._

Sam walked through the dark woods of Blackwood Pines, Ashley trailed behind her, shivering slightly through the cold. It was a little bit past dark by this point in time, but Sam wasn't scared. It wasn't like there was anything that bad out in the mountains.

Ashley jogged to catch up with Sam, getting frightened by the whistling of the wind and the symphony of noises coming from the wilderness. Sam chuckled lightly at her friends fear, shaking her head.

"There's nothing to be afraid of Ash." Sam said comfortingly, stuffing her hands into her pockets as she looked around herself, feeling calm in the rawness of the environment.

A deer suddenly darted past the duo, causing Ashley to yelp. Sam merely flinched, being aware that different animals would be surely popping out every once in a while.

"Why did we choose to go to the guest cabin?" Ashley whimpered, realizing that this wasn't her best decision in the world. Actually, she hadn't even come up with it, it had been Sam.

Sam shrugged. "Just to escape everything back at the cabin I think." Sam explained. Ashley nodded.

"Or, you mean, get away from the Jessica and Emily drama." Sam nodded firmly in agreement, eliciting a light giggle from Ashley.

"It'll be nice, just me and you. You can catch me up on all your amazing achievements from the past year." Sam suggested. Ashley hummed in agreement, now eager to get to the cabin, hoping that her excitement wasn't too obvious.

But Sam had caught it because, well, Sam was Sam. She was aware of the whole fact that Ashley had a huge crush on her, but she wasn't so sure about how she felt about the whole thing.

Of course she loved Ashley. The girl was her best friend, she prioritized her above all other things. Her safety was more important then everybody else's. But she had also been having strange feelings about Josh lately, since their friendship had taken quite a turn since the last year.

And everybody always joked about how Josh and Chris were 'gay for each other', but Sam wasn't sure if it was a joke or reality. Sam really wasn't sure.

And what were her feelings about Ashley? Were they romantic or merely platonic? Sam couldn't know for sure, yet. She needed to gather more facts.

"Sam!" Ashley's voice snapped the girl back to reality, who shook her head to get her thoughts back to real life. Sam looked towards her friend, a look of reassurance on her face as she grinned.

"Sorry, the dream world pulled me away for a few moments." Sam explained. Ashley looked at her for a few moments, before deducing everything was fine and pulling away.

After a few more minutes the two finally got to the guest cabin, Sam opening the door. Ashley stumbled in after Sam, eager to get away from the coldness of the outside, even though it was equally as freezing.

"Ashley, you can take a seat on the couch while I start up the fire place." Sam offered. Ashley eagerly took it and planted on the couch, feeling pretty tired from the walk there as Sam got started on the fire.

"Thanks Sam." Ashley chirped, snuggling into the sofa, watching Sam working away on the fire. Sam waved her hand dismissively in response, getting back to getting the fire ready.

After a few minutes of waiting, Ashley was joined by Sam on the couch, the fire slowly starting to warm up the cozy cabin. Sam patted on her lap, motioning for Ashley to lay her head there.

Of course, the blond complied. She got comfortable pretty quickly, and the pair of friends settled into easy conversation, taking about all the things they liked and didn't like about life.

It was a stupid conversation, but it was a nice one. It had been a long year for Sam, after the passing of Hannah, her best friend. Ashley had been quick to fill the gap, but it still ached.

Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if the twins hadn't died. Would they be at the lodge right now? Most likely, playing games around the fire. It would be awkward because Mike and Jessica were now dating and Emily would have to cope with it, but it was okay, because Sam would just laugh in the corner with Josh and the twins.

Sam also wondered if it was better the way things were. She would surely never had become close with Ashley if it were not for that stupid prank. That stupid prank had made Samantha's life do a complete three sixty.

Ashley's yelp and the sound of broken glass catches Sam off guard. Ashley leaped from where she was snuggled into Sam's lap, looking over at the broken window in horror.

Sam stood up to get a better look, shocked by the amount of broken glass on the floor. She walked over cautiously, trying to get a better look.

"What the hell?" She muttered, kneeling down to see the cause of what had broken the glass, frowning when she couldn't locate one.

"Sam!" Ashley called out to the girl worriedly, and in fear. "How did that window break?" Clearly the question was directed at Sam, who had little to no idea on what was happening.

But for the sake of Ashley's mental state, she straightened her shoulders and showed no signs of fear, turning around to Ashley with a calm look on her face.

"Probably one of the guys. Mike and Jess are usually the ones to pull pranks like these." It had been a total lie, but thinking about it, Sam realized it would actually make sense. She would check the outside to see if they were out there, and then scold them for terrifying Ashley.

And herself of course.

Ashley's heart-rate slowed down, and she nodded slowly, accepting that it was a likely possibility. As soon as Sam got close, she latched onto the girl, searching for some type of safety in the now creepy guest cabin.

Sam comforted the girl, obviously, and then sat her down on the sofa.

"I'm just going to check outside really quick, okay?" Sam explained, rubbing Ashley's shoulders, hoping the girl would calm down from the sudden scare.

Ashley made a noise of protest, but when she realized that Sam was going outside no matter what she said, she nodded.

"Alright, but please be quick." Ashley begged. Sam nodded in agreement, giving the girl a quick squeeze of assurance before she trudged over to the door, not knowing whether this was a good idea.

But if there was a foreign noise or if she saw somebody she didn't recognize, you could bet that Sam would be running in immediately. She was curious, but not an idiot. If her life was in danger then it wasn't worth knowing who was out there.

Opening the door of the guest cabin revealed that it was snowing harder then ever, and Sam had to squint just to see a few feet ahead of her. She blindly entered the realm of snowy wonder, not going too far out so she would lose sight of where she was.

"How did that window break?" Sam wondered. Nobody was out there, next to herself, so it just didn't make any sense. With a sigh of defeat, she decided her best bet would be to get inside and think about what the best option would be from there.

"Did you see anything?" Ashley asked, the worried tone clear in her voice. Sam shook her head, brushing fallen snow off of herself as Ashley moved towards her to meet her at the door.

Curiously, Ashley moved towards the door once Sam had walked over to the couch, opening it up to take her own peek outside. The brewing snowstorm hit her hard, taking her by surprise. After a few moments, a few painful moments to be honest, she came to the conclusion there was nothing out there.

"Odd..." Ashley mumbled to herself, closing her the door. She sighed and leaned back against it, the shattered glass still spooking her slightly, but logically thinking it could have just been an animal or rock or whatever...Yeah, logic.

"Well, maybe we should head back to the lodge." Sam suggested, leaning her head against the sofa as she watched Ashley tiredly. Ashley shrugged.

"I guess so. But it'll be pretty hard through that storm." Ashley mused, her thoughts reeling right back to the viscous storm going on outside. She had barely lasted a few seconds, and it took a while to get back to the lodge, so their odds didn't look too great.

"Well, why don't you come over here? We can formulate a battle plan and then move on from there." Sam patted the spot on the soft next to her.

Ashley grinned and nodded, moving to walk over when suddenly a hand broke through the window, grabbing hold of the hood on her jacket.

Ashley screamed as she felt herself ripped off from the ground by someone with some kind of superhuman strength. Her body was pulled through the window, broken glass tearing through her clothing and creating wounds on her flesh, blood seeping through the classroom.

"HOLY SHIT! ASH!" Sam cried, darting over to the door and kicking it open. She stumbled slightly in her craze, nearly falling onto the snow as she looked around for where Ashley was.

She couldn't see the girl through the snow, but she could still hear her screams. Sam looked around, seeing a rifle hanging up on next the front door of the cabin. She grabbed it before sprinting towards the sounds of her best friend's cries.

Fearlessly she leaped onto different pieces of tubing floating on the river, getting passed easily enough. Her heavy breathing signaled she was supposed to be getting tired, but adrenaline and the fear that Ashley could be _killed_ triggered something inside of her.

Sam slid down a cliff, reaching out for a branch to stop her from stumbling, picking back up into a sprint afterwards. After a few moments she came across a ledge, and without a second thought, jumped right across it, landing with a huff.

Before she knew it she was standing before some...mines? Yeah, they were definitely mines, and something told her that Ashley was done there. She slid down, deciding that the path in would take far too long.

"ASHLEY!" Sam yelled, seeing a barely alive Ashley lying on the elevator shaft. Or maybe, she was dead. Sam couldn't tell from where she was standing.

Immediately she forced every once of herself to run as fast as she could, prepared to get Ashley out of there no matter what.

"Sam." Ashley croaked, and right before Sam got to her, the elevator shaft dropped, falling down into a pit of darkness.

"NO!" Sam cried out, falling to her knees as she watched Ashley slowly slip out of her reach, the whole mad dash becoming seemingly pointless. "No..."

"Ugh..." Matt groaned in pain, his head throbbing as he struggled to force his eyelids open. After a few moments his willpower came through and, after struggling, he was able to get up in a standing position.

He realized that he was in the kitchen, and placed his hands onto a chair to get his balance. Another groan escaped his lips, the pain becoming more and more tolerable with the passing moment, fortunately.

"Shit!" The memories rushed into him, remembering that Jessica had been dragged away from someone, or _something._ Immediately he began to move, searching around the cabin for any signs of the girl or her boyfriend.

He was wary as he walked around, each step had caution behind it. The man could still be in the lodge, and Matt was very vulnerable at the moment in time.

Matt swallowed when he noticed a large blood stain on the wall. He prayed in his head that it wasn't either his friends as he forced himself to continue, no longer willing to gaze at the red work of art.

After checking every room a second time, Matt realized that whatever had taken Ashley, and possibly Mike, had left the lodge to hide out somewhere else.

The boy sharply breathed in as he walked outside, the cool air hitting him hard. It was snowing, but not as much as it had just minutes before. Actually, Matt had no idea how long he was out for, so it was probably more then just minutes.

Cautiously he walked around the lodge, trying to find anything of importance that would lead him to where the couple were being kept. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed the shed, and concluded that it would be a good place to look.

He jogged over, hoping- _praying_ -that the duo were in there. He opened up the doors, revealing a work like area with some technical set up, glass beyond it revealing another room where...

"Matt!" Jessica yelled, Matt's eyes widening at the sight before him. There they were, Mike and Jessica, both tied up against a wall with, what looked like, some sort of saw prepared to rip through them. "Help!"

"Holy shit, what's happening?" Matt asked, Jessica looking around fearfully while Mike struggled to get out of his holds. Suddenly, a voice blared over a speaker inside of the old shed, breaking through the dusty air.

"Hello, and thank you all for joining me." The voice was eerie, with a robotic scratchiness to it. Mike began struggling harder, Jessica finding it useless since she had been struggling for forever.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Jessica asked in a defiant tone, but her voice was still rather shaky. Mike just struggled further, it was only rope holding him, and from the looks of it, it wasn't tied very tightly. If only he could just get the right angle...

"Tonight, we are going to conduct a little experiment." The voice continued, heartlessly. Matt gritted his teeth, not liking where this was going.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matt barked, fearing for his friends safety. The saw looked _extremely_ sharp, and could probably tear right through Mike or Jessica.

"A sort of test,"

"This is insane..." Jessica muttered, wondering whether or not she was dreaming. Mike didn't seem to be talking, so maybe it was just a dream.

But really, Mike just didn't have the time to waste his breath on consulting with some crazed psychopath. He was getting close to getting out of the binds, if he just had a little bit longer...

"Now for this test, we will need the cooperation of both of our subjects, Mike and Jessica of course." Jessica whimpered at this reveal, a shiver running through Matt's spine at.

Mike was almost there. _Almost._

"But, we need one more brave participant to initiate the experiment, of course." Matt inhaled sharply, exhaling shakily when he realized he was the _only other person there._

Jessica was now shaking her head, rambling to herself, trying to convince her brain it was nothing more then a dream. It was certainly just a dream, obviously. Just a dream. Just a dream.

Mike was getting there, he could feel it. If he could just get his arms out, it would be fine because that was what was holding up his upper body. He could just fall to the floor and easily avoid the horizontal saw, knowing it would never be able to reach him.

"That participant must choose...Who will live and who will die?" If Matt had felt fear, then this must have been something different entirely, because this was _true fear._

A sob escaped Jessica's lips, knowing that either her or Mike weren't going to be alive in a few moments. She moved to take a look at him, knowing that it would most likely be her last.

But he wasn't looking at her. He was trying to get free.

Of course, that's what any body would have done of course.

But why didn't he look at her?

"NO! I'm not doing this!" Matt cried, slamming his hand against one of the walls, for some reason thinking if he inflicted enough pain upon himself it would all be over.

"What is happening?" Jessica swallowed a sob, putting on a brave front as she looked around the shed for _anything_ that could get her out of the situation.

"Please, please settle down everyone. It's all very simple. Matthew, you will see a lever in front of you." Matt looked down just where the glass ended, noticing a lever, a picture of his two friends on either side. "All you have to do is choose who you will save."

Right as the words left the unknown man's mouth, the saw switched on, moving slowly down it's path towards the middle of the duo. Matt noticed that there were two separate tracks, so depending on his choice the saw would go one way or another.

"No, no, no, no, no, no..." Jessica words slurred into one another fearfully, her eyes widening dramatically at the saw in front of her. If it was scary before, this was terrifying.

"Fuck! Don't do this!" Mike finally cried, the reality of the situation hitting him in the stomach when the saw switched on. But he continued to struggle, obviously. If Matt didn't choose to save him he would have to get out of the rope hold.

"What the shit...What the shit..." Matt repeated over and over, his breathing becoming ragged as he watched the saw move forwards, the weight of the world crashing down on his shoulders. This was practically murder! He was ending somebodies life whether he liked it or not. The choice, the privilege to see his friends alive, was ripped from him in a matter of moments. "I can't do this. I can't do this!" Matt cried out, hoping the voice would come back, revealing that it was all some stupid prank.

"Please...Please don't kill me!" Jessica yelped, watching as the blade edged towards her. She didn't want to die. She had her whole life in front of her, eighteen was _way_ too young for somebody to die.

Well, at least if Matt did choose to kill her, the death would be quick from the sharpness of the saw...

NO! She needed to live! She didn't want to die. She _didn't want to die!_

"Matt, come on buddy! Don't kill me, please!" Mike begged, still struggling through the rope, feeling the strong hold loosen dramatically. A rush of adrenaline coursed through him as he realized he could get free, he just needed another minute.

But he realized he didn't have another minute.

Matt uneasily placed his hand on the lever, knowing he needed to make the choice soon before _somebody_ made it for him. It was hard to breath; it felt like somebody had their hands wrapped around his throat, all the while holding a dagger to his friends' throats, laughing psychotically.

"Oh Jesus what do I do...?" Matt mumbled, exchanging looks with Jessica, who held the same fearful gleam in her eyes. Mike was too busy struggling to look at Matt, but the boy could tell that he most likely felt the same way about the situation.

"Please Matt..." Jessica whimpered, just _praying_ that Matt would choose her. She wasn't heroic. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't sacrifice her life for Mike.

Everybody says that when there in a situation like that, they would risk their life for their loved one. But Jessica just couldn't do it! She just couldn't! She didn't want Mike to die and the thought of him dying sent her into a whirlwind of extreme sorry and _guilt_ , but the thought of her dying for him seemed unreal.

Maybe humans are just too selfish.

Or maybe the love between her and Mike wasn't what she thought it was.

"I...I..." Matt wished their was an option to kill himself instead, it would make it so much easier. But there was no point. There was no way he could save his friends. One of them were going to die that night.

In the spur of the moment, when Mike was too busy trying to break free, Matt flipped the lever.

"Matt, you have chosen to save Jessica." The confirmation of his actions caused his body to wrack unnaturally as he fell to the ground, not wanting to watch one of his closest friends die.

Mike's eyes widened at the revelation, mentally berating himself for focusing on breaking free instead of pleading for his own life.

Or maybe he just knew it. Maybe he just knew Matt would choose to save Jessica and that trying to make a pitch for himself was absolutely pointless.

"No, fucking no, fucking no," Mike repeated, Jessica watching with incredulous eyes as the saw switched over to his track, a horrible feeling forming in the pit of her stomach as it edged closer and closer to him.

"Mike no!" Jessica screamed, Mike's struggles turning into crazed movements as he realized if he couldn't break free he was a goner. Dead. Would never walk the earth again. Would never go to school or eat at the fast food place around town. Would never sleep with Emily while he was dating Jessica and immediately regret it afterwards. Would never reach his dreams, would never fall in love.

 _ **No.**_

He was Mike. He was going to find his way out.

"I'm so sorry!" Matt cried out, slowly pulling himself up, for some reason needing to watch the blade slice through Mike. Maybe to check if it was really true. If he was really going to die. His friend, his close friend, was going to _die._

With a last surge of effort, Mike cried out and ripped his hands out of the ropes hold, immediately dropping to the floor just as the saw would have sliced right through him. His head hit the ground with a thud, a surge of pain coursing through his body.

But it was nothing compared to what the saw would have been like.

"You failed the experiment. Expect consequences, Matthew." The speaker blared scathingly before it cut off, the door to where Mike and Jessica were opening.

Matt sprinted through it, Jessica looking away, for some reason thinking that Mike had still died. Tears trickled down her cheeks as Matt moved to untie her.

"Thank you Matt, thank you, thank you..." Jessica repeated over and over again, Matt not responding until she was untied. When she was, he immediately darted over to where Mike was, untying his legs so that he was now just lying against the floor.

"I think he, I think he passed out." Matt's voice was shaky, and he was stuttering slightly, the scare still haunting him as he lifted Mike upwards, swinging his arm around his own shoulder.

Jessica darted over to Mike, checking whether he was alive or not with her own eyes, sighing in relief when she realized he was breathing.

"Thank God...Matt, what just happened?" Jessica asked, her breathing erratic as tears continued to trickle down her cheeks.

"I...I don't know. Let's just try to find the others. Stay close to me, okay?" Matt said the last part sternly, keeping her gaze on the girl until she replied.

She nodded slowly, swallowing. "Yes..."

The duo walked out of the shed, Matt struggling to keep Mike up as they moved, hoping that the psycho wouldn't come and get them while they were vulnerable. They need to find the others and inform them on what was happening was soon before something happened to them.

"Jessica, no matter what happens, we're in this together...Right?" Matt asked, keeping his gaze forward, afraid of what the girl would say.

She nodded firmly. "Of course." She said this because the psycho's last words still haunted her.

 _"_ _You failed the experiment. Expect consequences."_

" _ **Matthew.**_ _"_


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey there! So on the last chapter I asked if you guys either wanted ChrisxJosh and SamxAshley or AshleyxChris and SamxJosh. I don't really like the whole poll for pairings thing but I'm really having trouble deciding which couple to do. So we'll see where the story goes, I suppose, but thanks for those who did vote because it will determine what I may do...I think. Idk**

 **And holy shit, did you guys know that Ashley's hair is red?! Like, I can't even believe it! It always looked blond to me, so sorry for being a total idiot and calling her blond. I may still by accident...so hahaha**

 **Just a reminder that i'm trying to make this as cannon as possible, but there will be mistakes. I'm just going off my memories on this one.**

Disclaimer:Sam was never a fan of shooting things anyways.

Sam watched with alarmed eyes as Ashley fell down the elevator shaft, the horror of the situation becoming all too real. Before Sam could even think the girl slipped out of her vision, swallowed by the darkness lingering below.

Footsteps caught her attention as she looked upwards to see somebody leaning over. Irrationally assuming that it was the person who had taken Ashley out of anger, Sam aimed the rifle at the person, prepared to shoot.

But her assumption was the only lead she had, and the thought that Ashley was _dead_ caused her to press her finger against the trigger, the loud noise of the fired gun and the backlash of the firearm sending her stumbling backwards.

She never did like guns.

Sam wasn't sure whether she had made impact or not, so in her craze she darted up the steps that looped around the elevator shaft, intent on seeing who the person was that had taken Ashley from her. Adrenaline powered through her as she fearlessly leapt over a gaping hole, continuing on her way almost obliviously.

She quickly found herself at an impasse as the stairs stopped, realizing quickly that the only solution was climbing up the side of the elevator. The blond swallowed, but felt comfortable as she began the plight upwards, the aspect of climbing difficult terrain familiar to her.

As the blond leapt from different ledges and changed her grips so she could get a better view on things, all she could think of was finding that guy. Usually Sam was level-headed, and the smartest thing to do in the situation was to get help or find Ashley, but something drove her to get that man. Anger. _Hatred._ _ **Hell.**_

Sam realized she got high enough that she could leap over to a ledge, and with a deep breath, she adjusted herself and went for it. Pain shot through her feet at the impact, but she brushed it off immediately, noticing the man out of the corner of her eyes.

"There you are." Sam mumbled to herself, quickening her pace as she gripped the rifle tightly, intent on finishing what she had started.

So when she had aimed to shoot, she was disappointed when there was no ammo left in the rifle.

Or maybe, she wasn't.

"What the hell am I doing?" Sam muttered shakily, tossing the rifle to the side, noticing that the man was getting away.

This time she broke out in a full out sprint, realizing that the door out was closing on her. Her breathing rapidly increased as instincts took over, and she slid swiftly underneath the door, it closing shut behind her.

She was still on adrenaline high, though, and found that it was hard to calm herself down. Sam took a deep breath and knelt down, seeing a lantern sitting a few feet away from her with a match lying next to it.

Thanking God for the gift, she lit it gratefully and stood up slowly, her thoughts trying to piece together the situation that had just happened.

But she didn't have the time, the man was surely getting away. Sam ignored the painful thoughts and pressed forward, realizing that chasing this man was nothing more then a distraction from what was really going on.

…

Sam continued her way forward until she found herself outside, the cold hitting her like a semi truck. A shaky breath left her lips immediately, and she wrapped her free hand around herself, ignoring the frosty wind and the snow bits that were threatening to swallow her.

"No way..." Sam said, dumbfounded as she paused, looking at the large building a ways away. "What is that?"

 **Six hours Until Dawn**

Sam peered over the the wall to get a better look at the large building, watching the man walking with...wolves? Yes, they were definitely wolves. She shuddered; Sam was unsure of whether it was from the cold or from the wolves.

"Jesus." Sam mumbled as she watched the man enter the building, curiosity powering her to climb over the wall. She inched towards the building, it being completely unknown to her. Where was this man going? Why was she following him anyways?

The strange man who had _killed..._

Sam gulped, shaking her head as she brushed away the memories, mentally berating herself for not accepting the facts. Ignoring it was absolutely pointless. **Pointless.**

 **But it eased the pain.**

Sam noticed a small blockade covering a hole to the left of the entrance, and walked over, kneeling down to get a better look. She placed the lantern on the ground and moved it over, realizing that she was, in fact, right and there was an entrance that way.

Without giving it a second thought she shuffled forwards and dropped down, landing with a light grunt. Crumble and rubble adorned the cemented floor, different tubes and pipes sticking out around the area. It looked like someone had just gone crazy with a sledgehammer, smashing everything they saw in front of them.

The blond noticed a small hole in the ceiling, but didn't find a way of accessing it. Deciding that this lead would be her best way to start, Sam analyzed the area to see if there was some way she could get there.

She followed the pathway to the hole with her eyes, walking alongside it until she noticed it ended. There was a barrel seated a few feet away, and the bells went off in her head as she jogged over, setting the lantern on top.

After taking a deep breath she pushed the barrel forwards, angling it just before the walkway. She brought her hands together, smiling at her work. Sam picked up the lantern and climbed up on the barrel, puling herself onto the walkway from there.

Sam jogged towards the gape in the ceiling, climbing on top a platform to get leverage. She pulled herself upwards yet again, grunting slightly as she forced her body to move, getting up in one go.

Where she was now looked to be the lobby of the building. Chairs and tables were knocked over throughout the lobby, crumble and rubble lying on the floor. Chunks of cement and wood were laying around carelessly, but weren't large enough to become a nuisance.

Sam noticed a light a few feet away, and walked towards it, noticing large double doors just beyond it. A plaque on the front of it read the words: CHAPEL SECURITY PASS REQUIRED.

Her eyes flickered towards a small peephole, and she gazed through, sharply inhaling as she noticed the man and his two dogs inside. They slowly slipped from view as they walked away, and Sam immediately went for the doorknob, intent on forcing it open.

But it was to no avail. With a sigh of annoyance she noticed that she would in fact need a security pass if she wanted to get in anytime soon.

Sam moved away from the door, taking the opportunity to explore the rest of the lobby. She stepped over different chunks of cement and fallen wood as she noticed a large black plaque on the wall.

Curiously she trudged over, tired from the course of events that she rigorously forced her body through. She stopped in front of the plaque, holding up the lantern to get a better look.

"The Blackwood Pines Sanatorium..." Sam read off, a shiver running down her spine. "This is a Sanatorium?" Sam mumbled to herself, her mouth becoming dry. The fact that some man was walking around an abandoned sanatorium with dogs was horrifying.

The element of fear increased as she thought of her beliefs of what a sanatorium was; a dark place where ill people were locked away, never to be exposed to the outer world. The hairs on the back her neck rose significantly, and she scratched her neck anxiously, forcing herself to step away from the plaque.

When she noticed an admin office just to the left, Sam focused her attention on it. She was stuck without a lead, anyways. Hopefully there would be something of importance she could discover.

It was alike to the rest of the sanatorium; complete dysfunction and destruction. Sam shook her head at the big mess, moving forwards until she found herself in a hallway. She continued to explore through the sanatorium, a feeling of unease creeping about as she realized that she had no idea where the man was by this point.

After a few minutes Sam came across an area that could be considered cleaner then the rest of the sanatorium. There was not too much junk or trash lying around, but there was something of interest sticking out of a wooden table.

Sam gulped at the sight of a bloodied machete, swallowing at the disturbing sight.

"Gross..." She spoke in disgust, not wanting to have to do anything with the weapon, not wanting to know what had been... _killed_ with the weapon.

But after thinking for a few moments, she realized she had nothing to defend herself with. It would be stupid going in without some means of defense, of course, so maybe having something sharp like a machete would give her a sense of protection.

With a shaky breath Sam set the lantern down on the table, grabbing the machete with both hands as she slowly pulled it out of the gooey glue like substance on the table. With a grimace she worked to shake it free, relief spreading through her when the machete gave way.

The blond picked up the weapon, grabbing the lantern with her free hand. Feeling a little more at ease, Sam continued her journey through the sanatorium, determined to find something of interest.

After exploring the abandoned building for a while-a while was the only term Sam could use, since she had no idea how long she had been there for-she discovered an odd room. Though, everything about the whole place was odd.

"The hell...?" Sam stood in awe at the room. Chains were lying across the floor, and there were blood stains on the walls and floor. In the middle of the room was a blood soaked fake arm, moving from left to right. "Is this a... morgue?"

Sam shuddered at the thought, leaving the sanatorium increasingly becoming a good idea. She moved towards the hand, moving the lantern to get a better look, noticing a tag attached to the hand.

Curiously she set the machete on the floor and reached her hand forwards.

"What could this possibly be for?" Sam wondered, the pool of blood below the robotic arm frightening her as she latched onto the tag.

Just as she did, the hand disappeared, a bear trap underneath the arm suddenly appearing. It latched onto Sam's ring finger and pinkie, a cry of pain escaping Sam's lips as she watched incredulously at her bleeding fingers.

The pain was unreal. It bored through her body at top speed, and she watched with distraught eyes as blood dripped onto the bear trap. In a craze she searched around the area for a means of escape, the pain stopping her from thinking straight.

Sam cried out yet again, tears brimming in her eyes, slowly dripping down her cheeks. They fell down onto the bear trap, combining with the blood to turn it an almost murky reddish color.

Thoughtlessly Sam reached set down the lantern and reached for the machete, bringing it towards her fingers. She bit her lip at the thought of slicing her fingers, swallowing a sob as she imagined the unreal pain.

But what else was she going to do?

Sam inhaled slowly, stuck at a crossroads, the pain driving her to make a choice soon in a desperate attempt to escape it.

With a surge of courage, Sam brought the machete towards her fingers, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see her dead fingers sticking out from the bear trap. Soon they would be rotting, the odor released from it adding to the untamed horror of the sanatorium...

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." Sam rambled, biting her lip, wishing that it was all just a dream. That she wasn't really there.

But she could feel the pain. And she sensed that the pain she would feel next would be close to unbearable.

Sam took another deep breath, tears trickling down her face as fear bubbled in her stomach. She just needed to stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

With that mindset, she took another deep breath, moving the machete away, prepared to slice through her fingers. It was no big deal, right? No big deal, no big deal, no big deal...

Slice.

 _Slice._

 _ **Slice.**_

"AHH!" Sam wailed, the pain being far worse then she ever could have anticipated. She keeled over in pain, cries escaping her lips from the intense pain, blood dripping down onto the floor.

Waves of sorrow and pain coursed through her body as all she could think of was the pain. Pain, pain, pain, _pain, pain, pain,_ _ **pain. Horrible, hellish pain.**_

She needed to stop the pain. With wide eyes Sam looked around the area, noticing a first aid box seated a few feet away. She darted over, using her free hand to search through the medical aids, hoping to find something that would stop her from seeing the blood pour out of her wounds.

All she could find was medical tape, but this was enough for her by this point. She immediately wrapped it around the wound, not stopping until she couldn't see the blood anymore. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as intense as before, so, in comparison, it was bearable.

"Okay, okay, okay, we did it. We did it. I did it." Sam spoke shakily, mentally berating herself for not thinking more carefully over the situation. But it didn't matter. There was no way she could go back in time and fix it.

She just needed to keep moving.

So with a deep breath she forced herself to move forwards, the blood becoming familiar to her due to the recent events. Fear was not as bad as pain. But, in a way, fear _was_ pain.

Sam continued until she noticed a cabinet with, what looked like, jars of human skulls. She shuddered at the sight, not wanting to look at them any further. Just past the cabinet was where Sam found herself back where she started, in a way.

"Still need to find a key card, huh?" Sam shook her head at the door in front of her, running into the same situation as before. She turned away from the door, realizing that she would need to find the key card if she wanted to continue further through the sanatorium.

In the room she was currently in there where different...lockers. That was the only way Sam could describe them as she walked over to one of them, kneeling down to realize it was like a sort of drawer. Hoping maybe the key card was in there, Sam opened it up, seeing something she should have expected.

"Holy shit!" Sam cried, falling backwards as she quickly moved to get away, scrambling to get far from the dead body lying in the drawer. A shaky breath escaped her lips as she realized that they were body drawers, there were containers of different dead bodies all around her.

The thought was confining her, and she felt that it was starting to get hard to breath. But this wasn't the time to get fearful, she just needed to be calm. Stay level headed. Stay Sam.

She inched back towards the body, the odor of decay clear and so intense that she had to pinch her nose. As she leaned over to close the drawer, she realized that a key card was jutting out from a pocket on the shirt the dead body was adorned in.

With another shaky breath, Sam quickly snatched the key card, darting away from the dead body. There was no need to close the drawer. The body was dead anyways.

But now she had the key card. Sam slowed down her pace and walked towards the chapel door, placing the key card into its slot. She heard the door click unlock, and she set down the lantern to open the door, the machete being held in her good hand. She grabbed the key card and placed it in her pocket, picking the lantern back up as she entered through the door.

What she found was nothing new in comparison to the rest of the decaying building. She walked through the new area, noticing a flight of stairs going up. She began the plight upwards, recollecting her thoughts as she went, amazed by how much she had gone through in such a small amount of time.

A loud bark cut through her thoughts as she jumped, almost loosing her footing on the steps as she turned to look behind her, noticing that one of the wolves from before was growling just a few feet away from her.

"Holy..." Sam couldn't continue her words, her feet had cut her off this time. She felt herself sprint up the stairs, skipping steps to move faster as the wolf trotted up behind her, the fear of being bitten becoming a sore subject because of the bear trap she encountered earlier.

Adrenaline reappeared to power her through another terrifying situation, switching her senses onto overdrive as different scenarios of escape filled her head.

Once she reached the top of the steps she raced through a series of hallways, the wolf right behind her. Sam had no idea where she was going by this point, but she really didn't care. She just needed to get away and she could move on from there.

When she noticed an open door just before her, she decided that she had found an opportunity to escape from the wolf that was right on her toes. It was at the perfect time too.

She darted into the unknown room, slamming the door shut behind her. Her heart thumped wildly as she breathed erratically, sliding down the door tiredly, joyous that she had escaped from the wolf.

After a few minutes Sam was able to recollect herself and she forced herself upwards, noticing a large window on the left side of the room. She lugged herself over to it, peering through to notice that it was the chapel.

It looked just as devastated as the rest of the sanatorium.

On the floor before the mirror sat what looked like a...bone. Sam wasn't really sure what a _bone_ was doing lying around, but when she really thought about it, in the grand scheme of things when dead bodies were lying about, she shouldn't be so surprised by a bone.

But logically this was probably a blessing in disguise. Sam wasn't sure if she was going to encounter a wolf again, so hopefully something like this would keep it at bay. So the blond ended up picking up the bone, stuffing it into one of her pockets, not having enough hands to carry it. They were too busy with the lantern and the machete.

Looking to her right she noticed she was back in the lobby. She found herself grinning, more in an ironic way then a happy bliss kind of grin. She was back right where she started. She could escape right now.

Sam walked over to the stairs that would bring her back to the bottom floor, noticing that the cut off after a bit. It made sense, it was probably the debris that was sprawled about across the floor.

With a deep breath Sam leaped down on to the lobby floor, grunting slightly when she landed. Thankfully the drop wasn't too large, so the pain was bearable.

It was nothing compared to the bear trap, anyways.

"Well, at least we can get into the chapel." Sam wasn't really sure who _we_ was, but it made her feel like she wasn't so alone.

The thought of escaping practically disappeared from her mind as she approached the church door, placing the key card in just as before, familiar with the whole process.

Sam pushed open the church door, looking around at the rubble for a few moments before a wolf jumped out at her. She yelped in fear, stumbling backwards, wondering if darting away would be a good idea when the wolf was this close.

 _The bone!_ Sam remembered, setting the lantern and the machete on the floor cautiously, not wanting to move in a way that would set the wolf off. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the bone, the other hand held out carefully in a way that she thought would keep the wolf away.

"Here little guy, please leave me be." Sam spoke uneasily, dropping the bone in front of the wolf. Thankfully the canine instinct was strong and the wolf immediately scooped up the bone, chewing away at it contently.

Sam sighed in relief, using the opportunity to step around the wolf, hoping that it would leave her alone. She resisted the urge to reach down and pet it. She loved animals, but she didn't want to be _bitten._

Sam noticed that there were different room like areas within the chapel, all being sealed off by fences. The blond walked over to the rooms, noticing a jacket hanging on one of them.

The blond looked down at her own clothing by this point. Unbeknownst to her, her hat had fallen off a long time ago. Her jacket had blood stains on it from the whole incident from before, and Sam decided that maybe a change in fashion wasn't too bad of an idea.

The girl scrapped her jacket and put on the miner's jacket, content with how it felt. It would be easier to move around like this.

The blond noticed some sort of chest in another room and walked over to it, opening it curiously. The contents revealed things like more bones and cans of food, along with a pistol that was seated right in the middle.

Sam wondered about picking it up, before ultimately grabbing it. It would protect her more then the machete would, anyways.

Now she was at an impasse. She wasn't sure how she was going to carry the machete.

"Oh, duh..." Sam shook her head at herself, chuckling lightly at her stupidity. She tucked the machete into her belt, now using her free hand to hold onto the pistol. She still wasn't a fan of guns, but it was familiar to her due to the fact that she had previously been walking around with a rifle.

A little firepower ought to do her some good.

After feeling content with her search of the chapel area, Sam pushed forwards through the new area, not sure exactly what she was looking for. She was armed with a gun now, so it would be easier to face the man.

The blond noticed a room with stairs that led downwards into the sanatorium, and curiously she stumbled down, almost falling a few times from exhaustion. Sam forced away the tiredness as she put on a capable front, not sure of who she was trying to stay together in front of.

The new area had multiple pipes running through it, reminding her of when she first entered the sanatorium. In a way, it was mimicking it, there was still rubble and pieces of debris lying about.

Sam found herself stuck in a rut when she noticed a locked gate blocked her from moving forwards, until she remembered that the pistol would easily blast it open. A barrel blocked her way, though, so she set down her pistol and the lantern onto the floor and moved it over, accidentally knocking it onto the ground.

"Whoops." She chuckled before picking up her belongings-well, neither of them were really _her's,_ not even her jacket was-and aimed the pistol at the lock, flinching when the gun went off.

At least the gate was accessible now.

But what she didn't notice was that the sparks from the gun had fallen onto the floor, lighting fire to a flammable liquid that was spilled from the fallen barrel.

And soon Sam realized it as the fire spread through the area, catching on to the different barrels, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Oh shit..." Sam mumbled, almost in a daze, as the fire increased tenfold around her. Realizing that she was in danger, Sam started walking away from the area, the reality of the situation becoming real as she broke out into a full out run. "OH SHIT!"

Matt walked out into the open air, snow falling lightly as he held Mike up, Jessica walking next to him. Thankfully nothing bad had happened to Mike, but the fact that something bad _could have_ happened to Mike was what was terrifying.

"Is he still passed out?" Jessica asked, peering over to see if she could get a good look at her boyfriend. Her cheeks were wet from the soft weeping when she had been fearing for her _life,_ but her breathing had become regular and she didn't look too shaken up.

Matt looked at Mike, nodding after a few moments.

"Out cold. He won't be waking for a while." Matt admitted, Mike restricting him from moving to scratch the back of his head. Mike would have been a good asset in this situation, but as he was now, he was more of a burden then a help.

Matt shook his head, berating himself for thinking in that matter. None of this was Mike's fault, and it was his responsibility to make sure that he got some help. Matt wasn't sure if the boy had some sort of a concussion or had merely been knocked out by the impact of his head hitting the floor.

"Josh!" Jessica's voice snapped Matt back to reality as he looked up to see Jessica darting towards Josh and Chris, whose conversation was cut short by the blond.

"What's up Jess?" Josh asked, looking over to Matt to see Mike's limp body leaning against his, the boy's eyes shut.

"Whoa, what happened to Mike?" Chris asked, walking over the Matt so he could get a better look at the boy. Matt exhaled shakily, exchanging knowing looks with Jessica.

"We were...We were in the shed, and...And Jessica and Mike were all tied up." Matt rambled on, explaining the whole situation to Chris and Josh messily. Thankfully the two were able to catch it and digest the situation, exchanging shocked looks.

"Holy shit, we need to get help." Josh spoke first, Chris nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, this is crazy. Mike almost died!" Chris added, looking at Mike worriedly, wondering what it would be like to be tied up against your will, facing death head on.

He gulped.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Jessica agreed, prepared to get right off that mountain if it meant she would be getting out alive. But when Matt made a sound of disagreement and moved his head over to see the lodge, she realized he wasn't going to be joining them anytime soon.

"Listen guys, you three take Mike with you down the mountain, I'm going to head back to the lodge." Matt explained, practically throwing Mike onto the unsuspecting Chris who stumbled backwards in surprise, Josh moving to make sure the boy didn't fall right down.

"What?! Are you an idiot? There's a psychopath lurking around!" Jessica reminded the boy, speaking in a cross tone. Heading back towards the lodge was suicide. That was where the killer had caught them in the first place!

"I know, but what about the others? Emily is still in there, oblivious of the whole situation!" Matt replied, moving to walk away from the group of four, heading towards the lodge. "I'll be fine, trust me. I'm going to find Emily, and then I'll head to the guest cabin to get Sam and Ashley. We don't have time to talk about this!" To prove his point, Matt broke out into a run.

"Fucking idiot!" Jessica cried, shaking her head at the boy who was slowly slipping away from her view. Before Josh and Chris could even say anything, Jessica darted after Matt, disappearing along with him into the snowy white.

"Dammit." Josh cursed as the duo slipped out of view. He looked over at Chris, the boy currently trying to balance holding Mike. "Matt's right, the best thing we can do now is to go get help buddy." Chris hummed in agreement, and the duo began their plight down the mountain.

"This is crazy, absolutely crazy..." Chris mumbled, hoping that nobody would have another run in with some psychopath that Chris had just heard of.

This night was bubbling into something he had never expected.

Emily soaked in the hot water, contently leaning her head against the tub as she thought of absolutely nothing. Usually her mind was racing and she was always thinking, so she deserved a time to relax and unwind.

The girl sighed as she looked towards the door, wondering if she should get out by that point. She really had no drive to go talk to Jessica and Mike, but she didn't want to leave Matt withering away on his own for too long.

After a few moments of internal struggle, Emily eventually left the tub, water dripping down her skin and pooling on the floor. Dread filled her stomach at the thought of having to hold another conversation with Jessica, but she decided she would just ignore her.

Emily wrapped a towel around herself as she walked over to her pile of clothing.

Or, where her pile of clothing should have been.

"What the hell?" Emily mumbled, kneeling down to see if she was seeing thing straight. After noticing her clothes weren't there, she merely thought that she had gotten confused and that she must have put her clothes somewhere else.

But after doing a thorough search of the washroom she realized her clothing was nowhere to be found. She growled in frustration, her hands clenching as she came to a conclusion of what could have possibly happened to her clothes.

"Mike and Jess..." Emily shook her head, sick of the stupid antics of the duo as she charged out of the washroom door, anger evident on her face. "Listen assholes, I want my fucking clothes! And then maybe, just maybe, one of you will make it out alive!" Emily's voice boomed over the lodge, bouncing off of the walls.

The girl looked around the area, seeing lit candles decoratively placed on the floor. She stepped warily around them, grimacing.

"Man you guys really took your sweet time on this one. Candles, my favorite!" Emily cried, walking over to the stairs until she paused in place. A red balloon was tied to the staircase, an arrow plastered onto it that pointed downstairs. "And balloons! Wow, this is like the County Fair!" Emily spoke in an over-amused tone, a look of annoyance on her face as she walked down the stairs. "This is so fucking stupid."

Maybe they thought this was frightening. That they were _scaring_ Emily. The thought elicited a light chuckle from Emily as she grabbed a flashlight she found on one of the coffee tables, flicking it on with one swift swipe. This wasn't scary at all.

"Okay, time to hunt down some immature douches." Emily muttered, the hardwood floor creaking slightly every step she took. The dark colors of the lodge usually comforted her and made her feel warm, but a tingle of fear ran down her spine when she couldn't hear _anything._ No amused giggles or disappointed mumbles from Emily's reaction. No breathing or walking or eating or anything! It was just Emily.

Well...She was used to it.

Emily followed the balloons until she found herself in the cinema room where they sat around and watched cheesy romance or crap horror movies until dawn. Emily smiled at the memory, lost in her thoughts until she heard the door slam.

 _What the...?_

"Hello Emily." A voice cut through the air, an eerie feeling now hovering around the room. Emily flinched when the projector turned on, an image appearing on the screen in front of her as she wrapped her hands around herself, quickly becoming frustrated with the situation she was in.

"Who the fuck-"

"It seems you have been having fun looking for me. But I don't want to be found, what I do want is for you to look at the screen in front of you." Emily's thoughts jumbled over one another as the voice cut her off. "Now, if you would kindly do as I asked, we can get done with this cleanly."

Emily looked at the screen, her eyes narrowing as the image changed to her bathing in the tub, lying about lazily.

"What a beautiful image. A young girl, naked, soaking away her fears in warm water..." Emily growled as the scene continued to play, wondering how she had been caught on camera without even knowing.

"What the hell is this?" Emily cried, fidgeting slightly with her towel as fear bubbled up in her stomach. She immediately tried to force it down, shaking her head in disgust.

"I wonder if she knows what is to become of her in just a few short hours." The voice spoke robotically, empty of emotion, and yet Emily could feel the cynical cruelty in its voice.

The clip turned into another video, one showing Jessica and Mike tied up in the shed, a saw slowly churning towards them. Emily's gasped as she felt her voice get caught in her throat, a sick feeling filling her stomach to the brim. She had to place her hands over her mouth to stop herself from gagging.

"And what about these two? I hear that the girl in the tub isn't a big fan of this duo, so maybe she would be okay with this?" Emily's eyes widened as the saw continued to move forwards before it suddenly switched over to Mike's direction, increasing speed slightly as tears rolled down Jessica's face.

"No!" Emily cried, feeling tears well up in her own eyes, the projector shutting off completely. "Who the fuck do you think you are? Where's Matt?!" Emily screamed, looking around the area wildly, fearing for her own safety in the lodge.

"Emily, I'm going to give you ten seconds." The voice slowly began counting down, and Emily looked around the room wildly, unsure of what was happening.

"Ten seconds...Ten seconds to what? Ten seconds to what?!" Emily yelled when suddenly the door burst open, revealing a man adorned in a terrifying mask. Emily tripped over her feet and stumbled, a scream escaping her lips as she caught herself before she could fall to the floor. In his hand was, what looked like, a fire extinguisher. _Is he going to attack me?_

"Fuck!" Emily yelped, looking around frantically for an escape. She noticed a vase to her right, and in one quick motion, she picked it up and hurled it at the man.

Quickly she darted to another door in the room, hearing the crack of the vase making contact with the man's body as he cried out in pain. She didn't have time to be triumphant as she opened the door and dashed down a hallway, opening another one and slamming it behind her.

Emily found herself in a guest room and immediately hopped over the bed seemed perfectly placed in the middle of the room. _This is a set up._

The door she had slammed opened behind her, and she could hear the footsteps of the man behind her, but decided to block them out and focused on getting away.

Emily's breathing became erratic as she forced herself to keep running, the lodge becoming a blur as she realized she had no idea where she was heading.

The girl found herself at an impasse when she came across a door without a handle.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no you've got to be fucking kidding me!" Emily cried, wondering how close the man was getting to her. She turned around, noticing a tall cabinet filled with wine bottle. Instinctively she pulled it down, the bottles falling to the floor as the door handle spilled out with it. Initially it was going to be used as a blockade, so finding the handle had been a blessing.

Emily forced it into the door and opened it, then proceeded to slam it shut behind her, locking it immediately. She wasn't sure where the man was by that point, but she was just happy she was okay.

"Thank God..." Emily gasped, a wanting to sit down bubbling in her stomach. But she forced herself to continue, not wanting to come in contact with the strange man again.

Emily looked around the room she found herself in warily. Towels and articles of clothing were stacked up on cabinets surrounding different washing machines. Emily immediately assumed it was the laundry room, and also assumed that her assumption was correct.

The girl opened another door, revealing to her a staircase that went downwards. The walls of the new area were torn and rotting wood was lying against the floor. Different objects were sprawled out as well, and Emily wasn't so sure where she even _was_ anymore.

"Oh my god..." Emily trailed off as she walked down the steps of the stairs, her thoughts rolling.

She had even noticed the man hiding in the dark.

So when he leaped out and stuck a gas mask on her mouth, she was out in seconds.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey Hey Hey everybody! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter, much appreciated, and here's the new one! I read each and every review just so you guys know and I take it all into consideration.**

 **Oh, and to IeatBooksForTea, I am reading Totem Poles as well :D I love it, it's really good. I suggest to anyone who wants to get into MattxJessica to go give it a read. It's still updating, of course, but the writer is amazing and has a vocabulary and just writing skills that far surpass mine.**

 **Here's a link actually: Okay, for some dumb reason it's not letting me link the page, so just go google it. Please**

 **Doth not the internet have such convenience?**

 **Oh, and I don't know if you guys have heard of something called the Until Dawn Awards, but it's actually a thing. This guy made a fanfic dedicated to find different fanfictions and give them awards based on their story. I was nominated (surprisingly) for Best Non-Canon Story, which is awesome! Thanks to Artemis Hunter for nominating me!**

 **Here's the link to his page: Okay, for some dumb reason it's not letting me link the page, so just go google it. Please!**

 **There's more information there, but I'm pretty sure voting starts during December. Hopefully y'all will send me a pity vote or two. And if you want me to win, be sure to send the word out to your friends. And your friends friends. And your friends friends grandma's friends.**

 **Lol... anyways, to the story!**

Chris grimaced as the weight he was carrying on his shoulders was becoming increasingly more difficult to muster. Mike was always a big guy, but there was never a situation in life where Chris could have possibly foreseen himself _carrying_ the boy. Especially when they were under attack by some crazed killer.

Yeah. Life was good.

Josh had been rambling the whole time ever since they had gotten the news from Matt and Jessica. It made Chris a little bit uneasy; having an unstable Josh and an unconscious Mike wasn't really a great help in the middle of a crisis.

"Hey Josh?" Chris managed to squeak out as they trudged through the snow, the small crystals of ice falling down slowly from the heavens. The night had lulled to a peaceful standstill; no more random raging storms and no more, well, no more nothing. It was just falling snow.

Josh didn't respond. He was twiddling his thumbs, speaking under his breath as his body switched into auto-pilot. He was thinking, and yet he wasn't. He was trapped in a vortex within his mind that pulled him violently to different sides, trying to bring him to one of them. _But no._ They weren't getting him any time soon. He could outsmart them. Outlast them. He _knew_ them.

"Josh!" Chris said more firmly this time, snapping the boy back into reality. Josh shook his head, making a noise of confusion until he looked around himself, noticing that Chris was carrying Mike.

"Ah, sorry Chris." Josh mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "Zoned out for a few moments there. Are you okay carrying Mike?" Josh wondered.

Chris grinned, happy that Josh had come back to the real world, until he realized the baggage he was still carrying around.

"I'll be fine I think. Mike should be coming too soon enough...Right?" Chris asked, the unsure tone clear in his voice. Josh shrugged, placing his hands up in defense.

"Sorry, I'm not a doctor unfortunately." Chris sighed while Josh laughed halfheartedly, and the rest of the walk to the cable car station was mindless chatter and checkups on Mike. The two boys hadn't come to terms with accepting the fact that there could be a murder on the lose on the mountains.

The duo, and Mike, arrived at the cable car station soon enough. Chris leaned Mike against a wall, relieved to take a breath as he wiped a hand against his sweaty brow. Josh patted him on the back before approaching

"The hell..." Chris heard Josh mutter. Curiously Chris walked up behind Josh, leaning over his shoulder to see what the boy was looking at.

In his hands was an axe, an axe that _should not_ have been at the cable car station. Josh was sure of that much as he held the weapon in his hand, wondering if it had been planted there or not.

"Well, this will be good to hold on to." Josh concluded, earning a nod of agreement from Chris. With the axe in his left hand, Josh moved to open the door with his right, finding that it was locked. "Oh joy."

"What, is it locked?" Chris wondered. Josh stepped out of the way, letting his friend try for himself. So, of course, Chris complied and gave the door his own whirl. But when he found himself stuck in a rut, he groaned.

"We seem to have a lot of problems with locked doors." Chris grumbled. Josh laughed, shaking his head as he shifted the axe around in his hands, putting both of them on the grip.

"Take a step back, Christopher. Things are going to get wild." Josh laughed, pulling the axe back before taking a swing at the door. Chris leaped back in surprise, yelping as he fell to the floor, landing near Mike's unconscious body.

Josh laughed as he continued to tear away at the door until it finally burst open. With a sigh of relief, Josh wiped his forehead and smiled in contentment, turning to flash Chris a cheeky smile.

"And that, ladies and gents, is how you break down a door." Chris shook his head before he grabbed Mike by his arms, pulling his body into the cable car station, following behind Josh who had already entered.

But when the duo entered the cable car station, they noticed that everything had been swept away. The station was had objects and items laying about, knocked over from their original position.

"Jesus..." Chris mumbled as he set Mike on the floor. He rubbed his hands together quickly, his fingers rather chilly from the winter air.

"What the hell happened here?" Josh asked as he looked around the station. As he was analyzing the area, he glanced through a window to another room to notice red writing on the walls reading: "Die?"

Josh had mumbled it carelessly, but Chris had picked it up, and immediately turned his head over to see where Josh was looking. Once he saw the writing, he yelped in fear, stumbling backwards in shock.

"What...What the hell? Who would write that?" Chris yelped. All Chris could think was the possibility was that there was blood painted on _the wall._ Whose blood was that? Where did it come from? How had it gotten there? "Holy shit..."

Josh's eyes hadn't left the blood. The voices started to talk to him again. He had tried to tell them off for a bit, but they were really smart. Like, _really_ smart. They always knew exactly what to say to him so that he would be right back in their pockets, like some a pencil or an eraser.

But that was okay with Josh. He had tried going on his own, but it just wasn't really a fun time. But they knew _exactly_ what to do! And it amazed Josh! He should have never left them. But they're back, so it's okay.

 _Hannah._ One of the voices chirped in. Josh shook his head.

"N-No way. That's definitely not Hannah's..." Josh couldn't force himself to say it. His voice caught in his throat as the voices continued to spawn ideas.

Josh's head started hurting as he grunted, moving his hands to his temples. Another groan escaped his lips. It was really starting to hurt. Like, really badly.

"Josh?" Chris watched worriedly from the sidelines as Josh stared at the red color on the wall. Chris was pretty sure that it wasn't blood, after thinking about it for a few moments. But Josh hadn't even looked away from it yet. "Hey, Josh?" Chris slightly raised the voice, but there was no response from the boy.

Instead, he was rambling under his breath. Chris couldn't hear what he said, and he assumed that it probably wasn't even intelligible. The boy swallowed nervously.

"Josh!" Chris practically yelled, but it was enough to snap Joshua back into reality. With a flinch Josh turned to Chris with wide eyes. "Calm down Josh, it's just me. Just me." Chris cooed, holding his hands up defensively.

Josh didn't respond for a few seconds, but eventually he nodded slowly, before a 'normal' look appeared on his face.

"Whoops, sorry Chrissy Poo, zoned out for a few minutes." Josh chuckled halfheartedly, but Chris managed a smile in response. "Now, seems like we have quite a problem. Who could have done this?" Josh wondered as he looked around the area, slightly angry that somebody had messed up the cable car station so badly.

Chris shrugged, the haunting feeling coming back as quickly as it had left.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's the person who attacked Mike." Chris suggested with a shaky breath. He looked out to the cable car to see it in the middle of the pulley. "Aw crap!" He cried.

"What?" Josh asked, turning to look at Chris. The boy motioned to the cable car, and Josh in turn followed, noticing that, in fact, there was no possible way to access the cable car. "Dammit. He must have known..." Josh mumbled, shaking his head.

"Do you have any ideas?" Chris asked, scratching his head. Josh practically owned the mountain, so he assumed that Josh knew how things worked around there.

Josh nodded, turning to face the room with the red writing on the walls. When the voices tried to come back, he shook his head fiercely. They were fun, but they weren't really helping the situation at the moment.

"Yeah." Josh replied as he moved into the room he, by this point, despised. But it was the only escape from the killer on the mountain.

So with a deep breath he opened the door and entered the room. Chris followed behind with a gulp, leaving Mike in the other room. He really hadn't _forgotten_ him, per say...

Okay, he had forgotten him.

He noticed a poster hanging on the wall, and in curiosity, moved to take a look. It depicted a map that had something that intrigued him.

"Fire tower?" Chris mumbled to himself. "This might be a good thing." If there was no way to access the cable car, which seemed unlikely by that point since Josh knew what he was doing, they could head there. Most likely there would be a radio they could call for help with.

"Fuck." Chris heard Josh curse loudly. He held in a sigh, realizing that Josh's tone signaled that something had gone wrong. "The keys are nowhere to be found. Whoever is targeting us must have taken them. Dammit!" Josh cursed again, slamming his hand against the wall. This was bad. Really bad.

"Wait Josh. I have an idea." Chris said, pointing to the fire tower on the map. "Look, there's a fire tower. We could find a radio and get in touch with somebody who could help us." Chris explained.

Josh moved to get closer, not noticing the faint red coloring on Chris' face from the closeness.

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit._ Chris' thoughts raced wildly as he tried to force down the heat in his face. This was not good. Not good at all! If coming to terms with the fact that you were flaming homosexual was bad enough, having a crush on Josh of all people must have been the Devil's work.

Josh remained oblivious to the whole situation, feeling Chris' quickening breaths on the side of his neck. It sent a warm shiver down his spine, he noticed.

Eventually he located the fire tower on the map and nodded.

"I agree. That's probably our best option to get the hell out of here?" Josh agreed, moving away from Chris to get a better look at the boy. When he noticed his cheeks were practically tomato in color, he knew something was off. "Jesus Chris, you look like you just crawled around in a furnace for five days. You feeling okay?" Josh asked, slightly worried. It would be extremely difficult to deal with a sick Chris and a knocked out Mike, as if the latter wasn't bad enough already.

Chris shook his head fiercely, making noises of protest. "Nope, I'm perfectly fine! Yep, so fine. Fine just like a fine...Fine." Chris chuckled awkwardly after that, Josh raising an eyebrow at his friend.

"Well, you're really fucking weird." Josh laughed as he exited the room, Chris grumbling behind him. "Now that that's done with, let's get Mike and zip right up to the fire tower." Chris hummed in agreement as he picked up Mike. Unfortunately the boy hadn't come to yet, but hopefully he would be awaking soon enough.

Unless.

"He's not dead, you think?" Chris wondered as he poked at the side of Mike's head curiously. Josh shook his head.

"Nope, he's breathing. He'll be with us a little longer." Josh replied as he left the cable car station, Chris in tow as they headed towards the fire tower. "Now let's head to a fire tower to escape a killer, why don't we?"

"Ah!" Chris cried as he covered his eyes. The security lights had came out of nowhere, and had done a great job of causing his eyes to smart. He groaned in pain, accidentally dropping Mike onto the ground with a thud. ""Aw, shit!" Chris swore as he reached down to pick up Mike, his eyes adjusting to the bright lights.

Josh laughed and shook his head. He had merely flinched at the lights.

"I thought glasses would help in this type of situation." Chris mumbled as he lugged Mike through the snow. His feet were starting to get cold from the long walk, and his fingers felt close to numb. The only thing keeping his hands warm was the body heat emanating off of Mike's practically lifeless body.

"How are we going to carry Mike all the way up?" Josh wondered out loud, looking up at the series of ladders. Chris felt his stomach churn at the seemingly endless amounts of ladders.

"Joy." Chris replied. How were they going to carry Mike all the way? Nevertheless, it was going to be one hell of a challenge.

The two boys stood at the bottom of the fire tower, pondering how they were going to get Mike up. They couldn't just leave him at the bottom. That would be so stupid. What if the killer came? Mike would be gone within an instant.

But carrying him all the way up would be extremely dangerous, let alone challenging.

"Wait!" Chris suddenly realized that he had still had the backpack he had gone to retrieve with Josh. He took it off of his back and opened up, beginning to sift through it for the item he was searching for.

"What is it?" Josh asked, kneeling down to get a look inside of his friends bag. He hadn't heard Chris' voice hitch.

 _Too close! Too damn close!_ Was all the boy could think as he forced himself to continue to search in the bag until he came across some rope.

"Here, I have some rope. Mike told me to bring it up, for some reason unbeknownst to me, but good thing he did! We can tie him to us and then lug him up all the way." Chris explained as he pulled out the long supply of rope. Josh sighed in relief as Chris handed the rope and he began unraveling it immediately.

"Thank God. Good work Chris." Josh said, his voice filled with relief as he began wrapping the rope around Mike. He fastened it tightly, double knotting it for safety purposes, before he rinsed and repeated the same steps on himself.

Soon enough the two boys were slowly climbing up the ladder as Mike hung midair a few feet down, kept upwards by the rope. Grunts and sounds of distress could be heard from both of the boys as the weight of Mike was getting increasingly more tough to carry with the passing moment.

"Oh my God this was such a bad idea." Josh said ironically, taking a deep breath as he forced himself to climb up another step. Chris was right behind him, finding himself in the same vigorous pain.

"Well there wasn't exactly anything else to do!" Chris reminded the boy, just _praying_ that he wouldn't slip. If he fell, he'd be taking down Mike and Josh with him.

Josh sighed. "Sorry. Climbing ladders and lugging around a 'dead' body wasn't exactly my plan for this vacation." Josh laughed. It had a sad undertone, Chris noticed, but he didn't question the boy about it.

He was a little busy, ya know, carrying his unconscious friend up a fire tower to escape a murderous killer who had actually tried to kill the friend who is currently knocked out along.

...Yeah. It had been a long day for Chris.

Eventually the duo had scaled the fire tower and found themselves at the top. They entered a small room, immediately collapsing in side, catching their breaths from the long plight upwards. Mike drooped to the floor almost humorlessly, but nobody had the breath to laugh.

"Jesus," Josh panted as he lay against the floor, his eyes staring at the ceiling. "That was intense." Chris made a strangled noise in response. Josh decided not to comment.

Josh stood up first, deciding to give Chris a few extra moments to catch his breath. He looked around the small area, noticing a box on the wall. Curiously he walked over, realizing it was a container holding a flare gun.

"Good, after I connect to the park ranger I can use this for extra...Wait." If Josh shot the flare, that would mean that the killer would certainly see it. Maybe it was a better idea if he just held onto it for the time being.

Josh turned around to see Chris still sprawled across the floor. He shook his head, chuckling at his friends antics.

"Chris, get your ass in gear." Josh said, laughing louder when Chris groaned painfully in response. Used to his usual physical decline, he decided to take the initiative as he walked over to the radio.

After he fiddled around with it for a few moments, he attempted to connect with anybody. But when he was met with nothing but static, a eerie feeling crept up his back, making the hairs stand up on his neck.

 _Come on, come on, come on..._ Josh thought as he tried for a second time, just praying that it would eventually work. The voices tried to pipe in, but he forced them away. His psychiatrist told him that the voices were bad...Right? They were bad, they were bad, they were bad...

Josh shook his head. It was hard to keep focus under this type of situation. With a shaky exhale he tried to use the radio a second time. Then a third time. Then a fourth.

Then it worked.

"Hello...Hello?" The voice was frizzy and muffled, but in Josh's ears it was loud and clear. A rush of hope flew through him, chasing away the eeriness from before as he leaned in closer to the radio.

"Help! Help!" Josh yelled into the radio, the connection a little unstable as he heard the park ranger zip in and zip out, different bits of conversation appearing at the wrong time.

"Hello...Wrong...Sir?" Though Josh couldn't catch all of it, he caught the important parts.

"I'm Josh Washington. I'm staying at Blackwood Pines in a lodge with my friends." Josh spoke calmly, a drastic difference to how he usually acted in this type of situation. Maybe the stronger medicine _was_ working. The voices weren't so persistent, anyways. "T-There's somebody else up here with us, and he t-tried to attack one of my friends." Josh felt his calmness slip away at the reality of the situation. He was in danger. His _friends_ were in danger.

He wouldn't let what happened last year happen again.

"Listen Josh, I need you to stay calm. Gather up all of your friends...lodge...stay in th-... until dawn." Josh's eyes widened at the last part, and he, in frustration, slammed his hands on the desk.

"Dawn? Dawn?! Listen, sir, this is really bad! Like, really bad!" Josh yelled into the radio, all rational thought leaving his mind.

Suddenly the fire tower began to shake, and Josh stumbled backwards, looking around in surprise.

He felt himself slam into somebody, and looked around to see Chris standing behind him, his hands stopping him from toppling onto the floor.

"What's happening?" Josh yelled as he felt the fire tower began to tip over, items on the desks falling onto the floor, grouping together on the left side of the room.

"I think someone cut the support lines!" Chris explained, as the slight tipping of the tower suddenly increased drastically until the fire tower was falling down completely.

The screams of the two boys echoed into the winter night, never to be heard by anybody as the fire tower fell into the mines. What awaited these two was something they could have never anticipated.

Matt looked worriedly around the Washington lodge, praying that he would stumble upon Emily sooner or later. It must have been the thirtieth time he had scourged the bathroom, trying to find anything that could possibly give him a clue to where his friend could be.

When he came up with nothing, a guilty feeling filled up in his chest. If he had just went and got her instead of searching through that stupid secret passage none of the situation he was in would be happening. Or, at least, he would have Emily with him throughout it.

"Dammit." He cursed as he exited the bathroom, before he began frantically searching around the lodge for Jessica. He needed to look out for her too, since Emily had disappeared so easily. "Jess!" He called out, his voice bouncing off of the walls of the lodge, the worried tone clear in his voice.

"Yep?" Jessica replied from downstairs. She was currently sifting through the kitchen, hoping to find something of importance. It really didn't matter that she wasn't Emily's biggest fan. She certainly didn't want her _dead._

"Sorry, just wanted to know where you were." Matt spoke in a calmer tone as he joined Jessica in the kitchen. "I guess you haven't found anything." Matt said glumly, sighing when Jessica shook her head in response.

"Don't worry Matt, Emily's smart. She knows how to get herself out of a tough situation." Jessica smiled warmly. The blond wasn't really sure if she had the right to say that. Of course she was right. Emily was a genius. But her lover, or extremely close friend, was already safe so she didn't need to worry. Matt didn't have that comfort.

Though, she didn't know if she could consider Josh and Chris 'safe'.

Matt smiled halfheartedly in response. It was forced. But he didn't want to dwaddle about the bad situation. They just needed to move forwards and find Emily. Thinking was not the same as doing.

"You think we should check the basement?" Matt suggested, the unease clear in his voice. The idea was smart, but a anxious feeling formed in the pit of Jessica's stomach.

"...Yeah. Let's go." So after a few uneasy first steps, the duo began their tread towards the basement, hoping to find any trace of Emily that could somehow lead them to her.

Jessica walked a small distance behind Matt, looking at all the junk and boxes that were gathered in the area. There wasn't too much of it, so it was rather easy to move about. Plus, if worst came to worst, Jessica would be able to dart out of there in an instant.

"Emily?" Matt called out, flashlight in hand as he looked around the barren basement. Hope was flowing through his body, keeping him moving. He would be content if he could find Emily. If she died because of _him,_ the pain would be unbearable.

The walked through a hallway, this time Jessica in the lead because Matt had decided to loop back and recheck. As she neared a corner, she saw somebody.

Their body was almost... transparent. Jessica could see right through them, yet she could see them at the same time. Their features were muddled together, making the person very hard to describe.

But she did notice long hair.

"AH!" Jessica screamed as she stumbled backwards, the body disappearing in an instant. Matt immediately darted over, his heart racing fearfully at the loud cry.

"Jessica?!" He looked to see the girl standing in front of the door to the hallway. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were wide, the horrified gleam clear in her eyes. "What happened? What did you see?" Matt asked, his heart rate quickening as he felt himself mentally prepare for anything that could be coming down that hallway.

"Ghost! I saw a ghost, Matt! A-A real ghost!" Jessica cried, almost in a hysterical way.

 _Crap, is she hallucinating or something?_ Matt wondered as he placed his hands on her shoulders, moving so that he was looking her in the eyes.

"Listen Jess, there's a lot going on, and I just need you to calm down. You probably saw nothing." Jessica grunted in response and ripped out of his grip, shaking her head vigorously.

"I'm serious Matt! Don't give me that look! Don't give me that look like I'm crazy!" Jessica yelled, her voice escalating in loudness. Matt held his hands up defensively.

"I'm not, Jess!" He took a deep breath, settling his nerves slightly as his mind raced with ways to get out of this scenario. "Jess, come on, let's just take a deep breath okay."

"But!"

"I'm not saying you didn't see anything," Matt interjected, annoying Jessica slightly. "But I think we both need to take a deep breath. There's a lot going on right now, so it would be normal to see some weird things. I'll lead the way, so if we run into that ghost again, I can take it head on!" Matt grinned playfully, hoping that he hadn't pissed of Jessica any further.

Jessica shook her head, but giggled lightly. Her heart-rate was going down as she inhaled and exhaled, taking Matt's advice. She was just high on energy, was all. It was a long night, and was sure to be a longer one, so she just needed to stay calm.

The adrenaline rush slowly died down, but the creeping feeling of somebody around the basement was still there. It wasn't as intense as before though.

"Okay, okay. Sorry for the scare." Jessica scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. She was such an idiot. Ghosts didn't even exist! Duh!

...So then how did the spirit board move?

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're alright." Matt's warm smile sent a shiver down Jessica's spine, but it wasn't the haunting, creeping ones she received from the horrors of the last couple of hours. It was sweet, and warm instead of chilling.

Thankfully the boy didn't stick around to check out her blush. He was already moving onward through the hallway, causing Jessica to scramble to catch up with him.

The pair walked throughout the basement for another good while, still finding no trace of Emily. It was starting to get Matt down, but he was determined not to lose hope. At least he knew that Emily had to be somewhere on the mountain.

...Or maybe she would be better off not being on the mountain.

"Wow Matt, look at this!" Jessica's voice snapped Matt back to reality as he looked to his left to see the blond hunched over an old dollhouse.

Matt walked over, leaning over to get his own look. It was your average dollhouse. A white house with a brown roof made completely out of plastic, with four square cookie cutter windows and one door directly in the middle. It was perfectly made. Factory made.

"Amazing! It's a dollhouse!" Matt snickered sarcastically, earning a scowl from Jessica.

"No you dumb oaf! Look through the windows." Jessica explained as she peered through one of the windows. She couldn't see much, but there were different dolls placed specifically around the room.

"Huh. I still don't see your point." Matt said as he glanced through the window. After a few moments he moved away, not finding anything of interest as he resided to search around the basement to find anything of importance.

Jessica sighed as she moved away from the dollhouse, noticing the ghost lingering about in the middle of the room.

"There it is Matt!" Jessica cried as the ghost started suddenly moving. She quickly chased after it, leaving an exasperated Matt calling after her.

The ghost disappeared and Jessica found herself standing before a key that was hanging on the wall. Matt appeared behind her, shaking his head.

"Jess, what are you doing? There are no ghosts!" Matt said sternly, his nerves getting the better of him. He just needed to calm down. Just calm down. Calm down.

"It led me here..." Jessica mumbled as she reached for the key. Once it was in her hands, she zoomed past Matt towards the dollhouse in a craze like fashion.

 _Has she lost it?_ Matt thought as he, once again, found himself dashing after Jessica. She was standing before the dollhouse, key in hand as she inserted it into the top part of the house. The front part of the dollhouse opened up, springing outwards to the left.

"I knew it." Jessica said as she looked at the doll scene before her. The little plastic dolls were placed in different positions. Their eyes were dark black in color, and had black lines coming out of them.

At a closer inspection, Jessica realized that they were all recreations of everyone now. She was able to spot everyone, Matt, Mike, Emily, Ashley, Chris, and even herself, but there was someone else as well who she couldn't recognize.

And then it all clicked.

"What the hell is this?" Matt muttered, taking a little bit longer to connect the dots. It looked like some stupid attempt to scare the both of them. He had more pressing matters, anyways, like on how Jessica was seeing 'ghosts'. "Jess..."

"Hannah..." Jessica mumbled, her hand subconsciously reaching towards the doll. "That's Hannah. This is what happened last year. Somebody went and recreated the whole scene, perfectly." Jessica insisted, her hand still creeping towards the doll.

A shiver was sent spiraling down Matt's spine at the revelation. Someone had to take the time the make dolls of them, and them somehow gain information on what their specific set up was during the Hannah prank. How could have they possibly known? Why did they _want_ to know?

"This is fucking horrifying..." Matt trailed off, not thinking that Jessica had picked up on what he had said. But she had, and a now terrified look adorned her face. It must have been even more scary due to the fact that she was believing that she had seen a ghost.

So, with a surge of faux confidence, Matt grabbed onto Jessica's shoulders. It was more forceful then the first time when she had her first run in with the ghost, but it wasn't so tight that it was confining or painful.

"Jessica, let's just calm down, okay? It doesn't matter what this guy's intentions are or that he's trying to creep us out or anything. All we need to do is get through this, okay? And I promise we will." Matt smiled warmly at the end, and Jessica felt herself melt under his touch. Her fears weren't put to rest, but she was definitely calmer then she was before.

"Thanks Matt. I needed that." Jessica admitted, chuckling afterwards in embarrassment. "Thank God you're here with me, or else I would be screwed. But seriously, thanks." Jessica said genuinely, a natural aura about her that made Matt feel rather calm as well.

Matt didn't realize he was staring. He merely associated with glancing or looking or whatever. He was just doing simple check up, really. Checking her features for any bruises or anything since the incident with Mike. She really was a pretty girl. Matt was happy for Mike, their personalities meshed pretty well. Though sometimes Jessica could be a tad overbearing, she always gave you the life of the party. The best part of Jessica she could give. And then sometimes, if you looked closely enough, you would realize that Jessica is just happy to be appreciated. That's all she ever wanted.

"Uh...Matt?" Matt immediately let go, his cheeks flushing slightly. He mentally scolded himself; he must have looked like some over attached friend or something.

"Oh, sorry. Just zoned out for a moment there." Matt chuckled awkwardly as he turned away from the girl, pretending to busy himself with searching around the basement.

"...Is he-?" The noise of the roof of the dollhouse flipping open cut her off. She yelped at the sudden noise, stumbling slightly before she caught herself. She whipped around to look at the dollhouse. "Matt, look at this!"

In Jessica's hands was none other then Hannah's diary. It had been hidden away in the top of the roof along with a few other items that Jessica deemed unimportant.

"What? Hannah's diary?" Matt said as he leaned over Jessica's shoulder to get a look at the diary. Jessica, in turn, flipped it open to one of the pages.

"What? Josh does therapy?" Jessica wondered aloud as she read one of the pages of the diary. Matt raised an eyebrow at the reveal, completely unaware of the fact that Josh had some sort of reason to even go to therapy. From first glance, he seemed like a completely normal, humorous, loving guy.

The dark side of the bright side.

Jessica flipped to the next page, not really sure why she was snooping through Hannah's diary now of all times. The next few read something about some party and how she desperately wanted Mike to go.

"This was before the incident...Last year." Jessica concluded, guilt churning in her stomach. She started to feel slightly nauseated, and the diary nearly slipped out of her hands before she grabbed hold onto reality and pushed back the icky feeling that was building up inside of her.

The two slowly slipped away from the dollhouse in silence. They walked throughout the basement, neither of them saying anything as they walked down another staircase to a lower level. Matt wasn't really even sure what was happening any more. He was too tired.

"Is it my fault Matt?" Jessica's suddenly asked, breaking through the silence that had formed during the small duration of guilt. The question didn't necessarily surprise Matt, but it made him feel bad for Jessica.

"..." Matt pondered the thought for a few moments. Was it Jessica's fault? Partially, maybe, but certainly not all of it. "It's everyone's fault. We all had the opportunity to step in and stop it from happening, and yet we didn't. I regret it every day." Matt admitted, and it was almost painful. The repressed memories sprung out of seemingly nowhere, but Matt was always aware of them. And he was sure that Jessica was too.

Jessica didn't respond. She wanted to, but she couldn't find her voice. It was caught in her throat, and she feared that if she spoke again the nauseated feeling would return.

"You know what I don't get about people, Jessica?" Matt began, knowing that Jessica wasn't responding anytime soon. So when she didn't, he just decided to continue. "Why do we let ourselves feel guilty? I mean, feeling guilty about the situation isn't going to change the situation." It was almost like there was a bitter tone in Matt's voice. Like he was angry at whoever was haunting them for the mistakes they made. It wasn't like he unaware of the mistakes he made, and he felt horrible for them. Guilt was just somebody who found making others feel unworthy of forgiveness joyful. Guilt thrived in it.

"...Guilt is so we don't make the same mistakes again." Jessica said simply. She didn't on the matter any further, that was all she had to say.

"You're pretty smart." Matt admitted as he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "You don't give yourself enough credit." Jessica shrugged.

"Well, just take a look at my grades. You might feel different afterwards." Matt laughed at this one, nodding in agreement. His own grades weren't that great either.

Jessica laughed along with him. It made her forget what was really going on. Made her forget about the creep who was sneaking around Blackwood Pines, intent on finishing what he had started.

She gulped, hoping Mike was okay.

The duo stopped before a heavy door, Jessica wondering why there was a heavy door in the basement of an old lodge. But with so many other odd things going on, she didn't really have the right to question it.

"...Blood?" Matt muttered as he knelt down to see a small pool of something red gathered on the floor in front of the heavy door. Fear coursed through his veins. "You think...?"

A shaky breath left Jessica's lips as she gulped.

"I really, really hope not." Was all she could say as Matt slowly stood back up, forcing himself to look away from the blood. Trying to move his mind away from whatever was on the floor, he placed his hand on the door handle and opened it.

"EMILY!" Matt yelled as he darted over to the familiar face. There she was, safe and sound, adorned in a towel. She was tied up in a chair, but she was safe. Matt had done it. He finally did something useful. "Thank God..."

"Matt, watch out!" Jessica cried. But it was too late, the psycho had already clocked him right in the head, knocking him out instantly. "No!"

Suddenly the psycho turned towards her, and she whimpered fearfully, having nothing to defend herself with. Jessica was frozen in fear, not sure of how to act in this type of situation because she had never _been_ in such a horrifying situation.

"Matt..." Her voice was mangled, and the call for help came out more as a strangled cry. The killer crept closer towards her, and she mentally prepared herself to fight back.

It only took one swing to knock her out.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! How ya doing!

..That's good! :D I'm doing just foine. AKA fine

I don't know why, but I have been really looking forward to writing Sam and Emily's interactions. I mean, yo, I can ship that. Lol

Anyways, hope you guys are liking the story. Please be sure to follow and favorite because that's what gets the story around. Thanks for every single review as well, of course, I read each and every one of them. :D

On with the story!

"Emily...Emily...Emily!" Emily awoke with a start. She moved around fearfully, still in a half asleep state as she tried to piece together where she was and how she got there. "Emily, it's me! Sam!"

Emily looked over to her right to see Sam's face through a grate in the wall. Everything came together like some type of horrible puzzle that was constructed by the devil itself. The sudden urge to cough appeared and it was followed by a small sneeze, it was rather dusty where she was.

Wherever she was.

"Sam? What...Where am I?" Emily asked. She looked down to see herself sitting in a chair, the feeling of the wooden surface becoming known. When she moved to stand up, she was met by thick rope that was tightly constraining her wrists and ankles. "S-Sam? Help, I'm stuck!" Emily called out, looking over to see the girl watching in slight amusement. "You think this is funny?"

"It's been a long night Emily. Don't blame me for trying to find something to laugh at." Sam chuckled lightly, beckoning for Emily to come over. "Scoot your chair over here and I'll untie you." Sam suggested with a small smile, her eyes becoming more situation as the reality switched in.

Emily sighed, but complied as she began to will herself over, nearly tipping over every now or then. Each mistake was met with a loud curse, along with a light laugh from Sam, who was currently very weary from the turn of events. Once Emily was close enough, Sam requested for the girl to turn around, and with her machete she sliced Emily free.

"Thanks Sam." Emily thanked simply as she stood up from her chair. Sam nodded, placing the machete back into her belt.

"Listen, Emily, there's some really bad stuff happening on this mountain. I mean, I was attacked...By somebody...They...They took..." Sam couldn't will herself to finish, the memories to painful to even think about. She bit her lip, thinking that if she tried to continue talking, she would cry.

Emily noticed this, because she was Emily, and decided it was best to not elaborate.

"I know Sam, I was attacked too. That's why I ended up here, that douche attacked me!" Emily's voice raised slightly as each word flowed out of her mouth, anger churning in her stomach. Sam looked pretty broken standing in front of her, and this girl was usually extremely good with controlling her emotions. And even if her friendship with Sam had taken quite a blow due to the year prior's events, she still remembered that friendship. That relationship. That connection .

Friends didn't let other friends die on their own. Sometimes, for Emily especially, that concept was hard to grasp, but when you were looking death straight in the eye, she could see why people would feel that way.

"I'm going to kill him..." Sam mumbled, disgust evident in her voice as Emily's eyes searched Sam's body. She was cloaked in dirt and dust, and her eyes were hardened, hiding a layer of tiredness and fear. She was wearing some jacket Emily hadn't seen her wearing before, and there was something wrapped around two of her fingers.

"Oh god, Sam, what happened to your fingers?" Emily exclaimed as she knelt down to get a better look. The gauze that was wrapped around the wound was soaked in blood, and merely looking at the blood made Emily internally gag.

Sam cringed at Emily's words, the pain still lingering in the back of her mind.

"It's nothing..." Sam explained, brushing her friend off with a plastered smile. "Just cut it and..."

"Cut it? You're missing two fucking fingers!" Emily cried incredulously at Sam's ease with the horrible injury. Sam bit her lip, averting her eyes.

"I'll tell you later, okay Em?" Sam's voice was quiet, almost in embarrassment, which Emily found astounding. It was nothing to be embarrassed of. It was something that needed to be treated! Helped! Something! L

"...Fine." Emily complied, the sigh of relief escaping Sam's lips not being unnoticed. "Now, let's get to each other." Sam hummed in agreement, and peeked through the grate, pointing at the door in the room.

"I need you to open that right up. It should lead you to help me open this door over here." Sam explained, motioning to a door to her left. Emily nodded and stood up from her spot, turning to her right, noticing her backpack hanging on the door. She fished through the objects inside, noticing a large flashlight. She silently thanked the heavens before she opened the door to the next room.

Bricks stuck out crookedly from the walls in the hall, darkness creeping around in the nooks and crannies. Emily shuddered at the sight; the darkness wasn't horrifying, but the thought that somebody was currently sneaking around was.

At the end of the small walkway were two doors. She moved to the left one and removed the wooden bar keeping it closed, dropping it on the floor carelessly before forcing the door open. The noise ended up startling Sam, who was on the other side, but a happy smile played across her lips.

"Emily, thank god." Sam moved to wrap her hands around the girl, pulling her into a hug. Emily slightly cringed at the touch, not feeling any contact from the girl in a long time. But after she found herself getting familiarized with the actions, she wrapped her own hands around Sam, surprising herself and Sam as well.

The two hugged for a few moments-a few moments too long or too short, Emily didn't know-before pulling away.

"Wow, you look like shit Sam. Usually I could count on you to present yourself nicely." Emily said before she stepped past the blond, who looked at Emily with an amused look.

"You were always the nicest one of us all Emily." Sam countered. Emily rolled her eyes, a light laugh escaping her lips as she moved behind a tall shelf, dropping her backpack onto the floor. She sifted through her belongings before she came across a fresh pair of clothes.

"As comfortable as I am about my sexuality, I would prefer if you didn't play Peeping Tom right now." Emily called out to her friend, who sighed and turned away.

"Darn. I really wanted to see you in the nude." Sam said sarcastically, eliciting a scoff from Emily who grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a sweater from her bag. Not the most convenient nor fashionable clothing, but it was all she had in the small pack.

After she finished, she zipped the backpack back up and swung it around her shoulders, a content smile on her face. She was finally out of that hellish towel.

"Okay Samantha, you can look now. Hopefully my face and legs will satisfy your sexual needs." Emily called out to her friend, who turned around with a slight blush, embarrassed.

"I'm not that bad..." Sam mumbled as she scratched the back of her neck. Emily laughed for a second time, mentally preparing herself for the next game plan as she approached her friend.

"I can't do this!" The surprise voice sounded through the lodge, and it caused Emily's breath to hitch in fear, her heart beginning to thud at a rapid pace. Loud sobs followed the voice of protest, and Emily turned to exchange looks with Sam, the same fearful look in the blond's eyes.

Wordlessly the two darted back into the hall Emily had come from, tracking the noise to the door Emily hadn't opened. Sam moved to place her ear against the door, and after sending a nod of confirmation to Emily, she threw herself into the door, successfully busting it open.

"Damn." Emily mumbled as she jogged in after Sam, surprised by the girl's physique before all thoughts were washed away when she noticed Matt tied in a chair. "Matt!" Emily was prepared to sprint at the speed of light, thankful to see her best friend when she felt herself held back by some strong force. "Sam, what the hell?" Emily glared angrily at her friend, confused why the blond would have stopped her.

"Listen Emily, as much as I would love to run over, we need to figure out what's going on before we recklessly throw ourselves in. We aren't just risking our lives, but Matt and Jessica's too." Sam explained with a stern tone, her iron grip starting to her Emily's arm. Once the girl began to wince, Sam released her grip, Emily pulling away with a grunt of disgust.

"Fuck you Sam." Emily spat. Sam rolled her eyes, expecting this kind of reaction from the girl as she instead decided to ignore her, noticing a man approaching her two friends.

The smell of something burning filled Mike's lungs to the brim as he awoke with a start, his heart pumping rapidly as his eyes flickered open. Bright light stung his eyes, and a smoky taste filled his mouth, causing him to cough loudly.

"Jesus Christ..." He coughed, his head thudding wildly in pain. His hands instinctively moved to his head, trying to make sense of the situation. As he looked around, he noticed he was lying in some kind of tower that was currently filled with flames and smoke alike. And for some reason, his head was ringing painfully, and his movements felt sluggish.

Mike forced himself upwards, instincts kicking it as he realized if he didn't get out of the situation he was in, he was going to die.

Another cough escaped his lips as he looked through one of the gaping holes in the floor, revealing a large pit that seemed to lead into complete and utter darkness. Somehow he had ended up in a tower, leaning over top a large drop, without having any recollection of it.

"Fucking great..." He cursed as he began climbing up a ladder, praying that the tower wouldn't suddenly drop into the depths below. He coughed again, climbing high enough until he noticed a small ledge that seemed like a good place to jump to before the tower fell completely.

"Hold on!" A voice called out, and Mike looked around the area to see Josh and Chris clinging onto the side of the tower, the tower threatening to take it down with them.

Mike looked in surprise at the duo, the thought of this possibly being a dream leaving his mind as the thought of death uppercut him in the gut. He scrambled over to the duo, leaning over to get a better look at them, shocked that they had ended up there as well.

"Josh! Chris! What the fuck is happening?" Mike yelled, the two boys looking up at Mike with shocked expressions.

"Oh thank god you're awake! You need to help us!" Chris cried as she clutched onto the side of the tower, his other hand stopping Josh from falling. "This tower is going to collapse any second!"

Mike nodded, before nodding again, trying to recollect his thoughts. He snagged his foot onto a hold before he attempted to lean over the side, reaching his hands out to Chris, who wasn't sure how to grab onto Mike's hand without dropping Josh.

"Shit." Chris cursed at the revelation, wondering if he could just adjust his free hand to quickly latch onto Mike's. Then again, Mike's hand was pretty far away, so Josh's added weight might instantly pull him down into the darkness below.

"Chris, let me go!" Josh yelled, noticing what was happening as well, an icky feeling filling his stomach as he swallowed. It felt like spiders were crawling about inside of his body, leaving seeds of pain everywhere they went.

Chris looked at his friend incredulously, shocked on how he could even suggest such a thing.

"Are you fucking crazy? I'm not doing that!" Chris shouted in response, before he looked back up at Mike pleadingly. "Please Mike, can you reach a little farther?" Chris pleaded, praying that they could both be saved.

"I'm trying!" Mike grunted, adjusting to he could reach even farther. He gasped slightly as his eyes met with the drop below, his body now half hanging over the side of the tower. But he put on a brave face, knowing that Josh and Chris were in a worse position then he was.

"Chris, this isn't a joke anymore! This is life and death! If you let me go, you can live!" Josh explained, looking at Chris in disbelief. It wasn't even like Josh had much to live for anyways, Chris had his full future in front of him. And he knew it.

"Oh my god I can't believe we are having this conversation." Chris whimpered as he tried to force himself upwards, his grip loosening from the craziness of it all. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He repeated as he tried to readjust his grip, nearly loosing it completely with a loud gasp.

"Hold on!" Mike called out, nearing closer and closer every inch he moved his body for the side. It was not about staying safe himself now, but about trying to get Chris and Josh to safety as well.

"Chris, this isn't a suggestion, it's a god damn order. Please, let me go!" Josh begged, not wanting to put his friend into anymore danger then he had already. This was his fault, he had invited everyone back up onto the mountain, it was his idea. Sure, more or less it was Doctor Hill's idea, but he had gone through with it! Like a complete and utter idiot! And now, his best friend was going to die.

No, he could prevent that.

"Josh just shut the fuck up!" Tears were streaming down Chris' cheeks now, and he couldn't tell if it was because of the severity of it all or because the smoke was clouding his vision. Unfortunately, they began dripping down from his chin onto Josh, who began sputtering from the sudden salty taste in his mouth.

"Don't cry Cochise, makes you look stupid." Josh laughed, tears welling up in his own eyes at the thought of death becoming all to real. "Now let go and go live your life, and get the hell out of this place!" Josh spoke in his regular playful tone, efficiently masking his pure and utter fear of death and oblivion. Chris rolled his eyes and scoffed, but Josh could see the small smile playing at his lips.

"Holy crap, listen to you motherfuckers!" Mike yelled, tears trickling down his own face. Obviously, it was from the smoke. Mike didn't cry. "You aren't going to die! If you just get your asses in gear and hold on a little longer, I'll have you both up here in a moment!" Before they knew it, the boys all found themselves chuckling tearfully, wishing they could all wake up from the nightmare they were currently trapped in.

The tower collapsed before Mike could pull them up.


	9. Chapter 9

**FIVE HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

"...?" No noise escaped Matt's lips as his eyes blinked, light seeping through the small opening that revealed his sensitive cornea. It stung slightly, but eventually his eyes adjusted and the pain disappeared.

He shuffled slightly, realizing that he was having a hard time moving about. He was still half-asleep by this point; some body parts still felt numb and his mind felt like cobwebs had grown in them since that last time he was awake.

Matt wondered where he was. He assumed he had crashed in his bed after school, and that his mother was probably making dinner by this time. With that thought in mind, he twitched his nose, trying to see if he could capture the scent of soup or chicken.

When all he smelt was dust and dimness, his eyes opened fully.

"...Jessica?" He called out to the limp form of his friend, who was seated in a chair directly across from him. He glanced downwards, noticing that a table was currently denying him access to his friend.

But when he tried to stand up out of his chair, he realized that his feet were tied to the chair, the chair bolted to the ground. His left arm was also tied to the arm handle, but his right arm was free, leaving him slightly relieved that he had some limb that would move to his will.

His ears perked when he heard a grown escape his friends lips, and his eyes flickered over to her, noticing that she was waking up. He smiled in relief, happy that nothing had happened to the girl.

"Jess!" He called for a second time, the slightest bit louder. The girl's eyes opened fully, and she began fumbling around, trying to see where the source of his voice was coming from.

Then, finally, everything settled in.

"Matt? God, what happened?" Jessica asked fearfully, the psycho killer who was running around the lodge quickly coming back to her. Her head throbbed painfully from when he, quite literally, clocked her in the face rather hard.

"That guy must have got it...Damn it, where's Emily?" Matt remembered the whole reason the shady guy had gotten to them anyways; Emily had been tied up in a chair somewhere in the basement. His eyes analyzed the room, trying to see if he could catch sight of his close friend.

"Matt...Fuck." Jessica's voice brought him back to reality, and he looked over at the girl, noticing her eyes were fixated on something lying on the center of the table.

Matt's heart froze at the sight; there it was, a gun, laying almost _peacefully_ on the table top. He shivered at the sight of the weapon, it could immediately end either of their lives. That was for sure.

So what did it mean?

"You...You don't think...?" Matt trailed, not even sure where he was going with that sentence to begin with. He could hear Jessica audibly swallow from the other side of the table, a face of pure and utter fear plastered on what usually was a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

That's when it happened.

The two saw blades from above them roared to life, and began chugging at a steady pace, threatening to slice the two friends right in two. It elicited loud cries of fear from the two teenagers, who had been completely unaware of the sharp metals that lingered just above them .

And, right through all the craze, the intercom switched on.

"Hello there my special little subjects!" The robotic voice on the intercom still had no emotion whatsoever, but Matthew could _feel_ the eerie joy that the voice seemed to hold.

"Fuck you!" Was all Jessica could shout in response as she struggled out of her holds. Matthew may have laughed if the circumstances were different.

But they weren't.

"Ah, seems like you're more then happy to see me Jessica. Unfortunately, my issues are involving your close friend Matthew at the moment." Matt visibly gulped, his tongue drying up quickly, almost like some sort of cotton domino effect.

"What do you want?" Matt shouted, his voice holding a tone of rage and irritation. What was next? What was he going to throw at them this time?

Jessica was rapidly cursing as Matt tuned in to what the killer was saying. He probably should have been struggling to break free as well, but there had be some way to get out, and the way out was, most likely, within the psycho's words.

"As Jessica pointed out earlier, there is a gun before you Matthew. You have a simple decision to make." Matt's stomach churned. He was sure that it wouldn't be so simple. "You may either chose to kill Jessica, or you can chose to kill yourself. Either way, there will be one man left standing. Oh, and woman of course, though who knows if that's even likely."

"Oh f-fuck..." This was what he got for not having Mike killed before, it seemed. His punishment: take his own life, or take the life of one of his closest friends.

Jessica had stayed silent the whole time. Her eyes were downcast, glued onto the floor, as if maybe if she stared there long enough this would all be over. She wasn't struggling anymore; she wasn't even making a peep. Matt could barely hear her breath.

Uneasily, a shaky breath escaped Matt's lips as he reached towards the gun. His fingers felt unfamiliar with the piece of machinery as they wrapped themselves around the handle. Another surge of fear rippled down his spine at just the feeling of the cold firearm.

"Fuck...Fuck...Fuck..." He repeated the word at specific intervals as the saw continued to churn downwards. Matt was far too afraid to look up at his own, but out of his peripheral vision he could see Jessica's loud and clear.

 _Well, I guess this is the end._ Thoughts of all the things Matt had wanted to accomplish in his life rolled by in his brain. He always wanted to have the butterfat smoothie at the diner in town; apparently, they put a slab of butter on top of a thick chocolate milkshake. There was even a record for the most drunk in a twenty four hour period.

He wanted to be the best linebacker in the world. Yes, it was a big dream, and he was sure it was many other kids dreams as well. But, he just wanted a taste of it. The tiniest flavor; the tiniest simulation. Seemed like that wasn't happening any time soon...

Matt was also one of those cheesy losers who wanted to find love. Yes, he was sure he'd get sucker punched for that one, but it was true! He had never had a true girlfriend. Sure, he had a few flings here and there, but nothing like true love.

Well, then there was _Jessica._

But she was taken.

And Matt didn't like her...

Yeah, he was done denying it.

If Jessica could live in his stead, then he would be more then content with dying.

"Stop it!" Jessica's scream startled him, and he nearly lost the gun as it threatened to spill out of his hands onto the floor. Thankfully, he held his grip in time, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

It was ironic. He hated the sight of a gun a few moments ago and now it was his saving grace.

He shot and angry glare at the blond, wondering what she was doing.

"What?!" He shouted. Guilt nipped away at his innards when a look of hurt flashed across Jessica's face, but it was quickly replaced by anger and disgust.

"Don't 'what' me! What do you take me for, a fucking idiot? I know you were thinking of shooting yourself!" Jessica knew that look from a mile away. It was an odd look that sometimes found itself on Matthew's face; it showed inner contemplation that usually ended up in Matt sacrificing himself, whether that be an item of his or his time, to help somebody else.

"Well, what other option is there?" He replied, moving the gun slowly to his head in a means of scaring of Jessica.

"Oh, I don't fucking know, drop the gun maybe?" Jessica cried out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Matt scoffed at this.

"Then we both die Jessica! Well, I always did know that you were bad at math!" Matt spat. Jessica rolled her eyes.

"This isn't the time for being fucking petty dumb-ass! Put down the fucking gun!" Jessica ordered, more loudly and more stern this time. By this time, the barrel of the gun was firmly pressed against Matt's temple, and it caused Jessica's lip to quiver slightly. Her stomach churned and her heart stopped as her conscious tried to convince her there was _no way_ Matt was going to shoot himself.

"Jessica..." Matt trailed off as his eyes started to become moist, and Jessica nearly gaped at the pure fear that shone brightly in his dark eyes. "I'm not letting you die, okay?" His voice was soft and vulnerable, a slight rumble to it that represented defeat.

Angry tears spilled out of the blond's eyes as she wondered how he could be so stupid. But, really, maybe it was her being stupid. If he didn't shoot one of them, they were both goners, all that would be left of them would be their sliced, bloody bodies spilled out on the floor.

"Idiot..." Jessica mumbled. The noise of the saw roared loudly, as if to signal it was there, which elicited a scoff from Jessica. _Fucking douche._ She knew the saw wasn't alive, but that didn't make it any less douchey.

"So I expect you to organize my funeral for me. Make it cool, alright? Getting LeBron James to show up is worth extra points!" Matt joked, his laughter covering up his pain. Jessica chuckled lightly as well, the saw coming down faster and faster every moment.

"You don't even like basketball..." Matt laughed harder at this one, causing Jessica to laugh along as well. It was nice; this was what your last moment of life should be.

"...Hey Jessica?"

"W-What?"

"I love you."

A gun shot rang through the barren room, causing Jessica to cry out.

"Mike!" Josh called out for the thousandth time as he walked through the mines. Chris trailed slightly behind, still catching his breath from the series of events that had just taken place.

The tower had collapsed while Chris had been reaching for Mike's hand. Fortunately, Josh's leg had caught onto a rope, and the two boys were able to maneuver to solid ground. Unfortunately, they had lost sight of Mike, leaving the two boys feelings restless as they tried to find their friend.

"Shit. I really hope Mike's okay." Chris said from behind Josh. The boy hummed in agreement, the flames on his torch licking his now burnt shirt (he had used it to light the torch) hungrily.

Josh raised an eyebrow at the flames, and moved the torch slightly away from himself.

"I think he'll be okay. It's Mike, he always finds a way out." Plus, Josh could have sworn that out of his peripheral vision he noticed Mike leaping over to some foothold somewhere near him. Hopefully the boy had landed successfully and had the same luck as Chris and Josh.

"I hope your right." Chris replied. He quickened his pace so he could catch up with his friend, feeling safer with somebody else around him. Thank God that he hadn't fallen down alone.

The two boys continued to traverse through the seemingly abandoned mine. They had run into a few incidents where they had to put their heads together to move forwards through the area, but eventually they found themselves stuck deep in a rut.

"Shitty elevator." Josh cursed as the elevator chose to work against him instead of conspiring with him. "I think we're going to have to find a way to get this thing working, or maybe an easier solution." Josh suggested. Chris hummed as his eyes searched the raggedy area, old and rotting wood alike crumbling around the area, structures seemingly looking like they were going to tip over any second.

"Sounds like a good time." Chris mumbled as he pushed through the dusty ruins. Josh followed close behind as the two scoured the area for anything of importance.

Roaring flames in the distance startled the duo as they looked at an upwards angle to where the source came from. They exchanged fearful looks afterwards when a symphony of indescribable cries followed suit, instantly sending up red flags.

"You...?"

"I heard that buddy. Loud and clear." Josh replied. The two decided to leave it at that.

"Josh!" Chris called his friend over as he stood before a metal ladder that would, hopefully, be the solution to their problem.

Josh jogged over, smiling in relief at the ladder before him.

"Ha-ha! Great work Cochise! You know what they say, a ladder a day keeps the psychos away!" Josh chuckled lightly as he moved to climb the ladder, the cold metal sending a slight shiver down his arms. Chris followed suit with a laugh, happy that his friend could keep good spirits in such a dark situation.

"I've got to say Josh, I'm proud of us. It's been a long night and..."

The sound of the ladder crashing into the floor cut Chris off.

The two young boys tumbled into the gaping hole below them, running into different rocks and gravel that felt more then inclined to make the fall down as painful as possible.

Chris landed on the floor with a thud, air escaping his lungs painfully as he clutched his stomach. He could hear Josh groaning loudly from beside him; the sudden fall had been completely unexpected and very, very painful.

"Motherfucker..." Josh cursed as he slowly pulled himself off of the ground. Chris was still lying gracefully on the ground, obviously needing a few more moments to heal up. Josh smiled slightly at the sight, before realizing that they had lost all progress that they had just made.

"And my torch is gone as well." Josh muttered bitterly as he fished around his pockets for his phone. Thankfully, he found it, and he whipped it out as fast as he could, illuminating the area with the installed flashlight. "Okay Cochise, get yo ass in gear it's time to move!" Josh called out to his friend, tapping him lightly on the side with the point of his foot.

Chris groaned again, but complied, and shuffled around for a few moments before pulling himself up off of the ground. Pain rippled through his body, but he put on his best brave face and shot Josh a smile, signaling that he was good to keep moving.

"Damn, that's one big wall if you know what I'm saying."

"It's a wall. I'm pretty sure you're point won't be lost."

The two boys stood before a large rocky wall that towered before them. Chris immediately thought of Sam, thinking that this sort of thing, well, would be her _thing._

Unfortunately, he didn't really feel the same way.

"Let's do this!" Josh clutched onto the wall as he began to scale it at a slow pace, sure not to move in a way that would send him tumbling gracefully to the ground.

"W-Wait for me!" Chris called after his friend as his hands found themselves latched onto the side of the rocky terrain. He swallowed fearfully, feeling less then prepared to began the plight upwards, but he did not want to be stranded in an abandoned mine.

The rewards overruled the sacrifice involved.

The blond scaled the rock wall fearfully, copying Josh's movements exactly so he wouldn't fall. He was sure Josh was _very_ aware of the fact that Chris was mortified, but was finding enjoyment in it rather then feeling bad for the boy.

 _What a good friend._

A few minutes had passed since the rock climbing incident. Chris was more then glad it was over, and now was trailing slightly behind Josh, hoping that they would be out of the mines sooner then later.

The duo continued to push across the raggedy mine, dust and dirt cloaking every square foot of the underpopulated area. They had come in contact with gears, wood structures, more odd noises, and the absurd need to go to the washroom.

Unfortunately, Chris had just decided to hold it in.

"HOLY SHIT!" Josh's voice cut through the blond's thoughts as he noticed his friend darting over to a illuminated area. Immediately Chris scrambled after him, realizing it was none other then skylight that was shining into a dark area.

"YES!" Chris shouted after his friend as he saw the gaping hole that revealed the snowy winter that was the outside. Instinctively he began darting up the steep hill that led to the exit, before he realized that it was ice over too thickly and that there was no way possible to get up there.

Their hearts dropped at the revelation. They tried to get up a few times, but they had never come close to halfway.

"Damn it!" Josh swore for the umpteenth time as Chris grumbled in frustration, wondering what kind of God would tempt them with an exit just to rip it right out of their hands. "We have to keep moving. If we can see the surface, that means were making progress." Josh didn't know if he believed his own words, but he hoped Chris would, because it made him feel better about himself.

"Y-Yeah...Yeah, you're right! We've come this far!" Chris concluded as he moved away from the skylight back into the darkness of the mine, feeling more then inclined to stay back at the light. But he knew there was no point waiting around just looking up at the stars;they still didn't even know the source of the earlier flames and the inhuman cries.

Josh grinned in relief, happy that his friend was putting on a brave front for him. Feeling in good spirits, the two boys continued the plight through the mines.

"Hey, look at this!" Josh called out. Chris trudged over, exhausted from the time spent forcing himself through the dim area.

"What is that?" Chris mumbled as he leaned into what Josh was pointing at. It was numbers that were haphazardly scribbled against the stone wall. "That's last years date." Chris remembered as his eyes looked over the numbers a few times over.

He dared not look at Josh, who was probably less then happy to be reminded of the sickening numbers that haunted him for the rest of his life. Noticing that this most likely wasn't healthy for him, Chris moved his friend away from the date and continued to push him forwards.

"Hey Josh," Chris had noticed something out of the corner of his eyes, but seeing the date that had been there earlier, he had a bad feeling of what was happening around the area. Something was going on. "Uh...I really got to pee, so do you mind looking away for a moment?"

Josh flushed for a few seconds before a meek grin appeared on his face.

"Don't worry, I won't peek!" Josh winked before turning around and covering his eyes jokingly. Chris rolled his eyes, ignoring the heat in his cheeks as he moved back over to the item he had seen.

"What the fuck?" Chris mumbled to himself as he turned over some sort of... cross. It was made out of wood that was chipped at the edges, and it had the name Beth inscribed at the top in messy writing. "Good thing Josh didn't see this..."

Chris tucked the cross into the crumble and hoped it was hidden well enough that Josh wouldn't notice.

"Have you emptied the tank yet?" Josh called out curiously. Chris hummed in the most 'yes, I have just peed' way possible without sounding unconvincing. Josh opened his eyes and turned to see Chris pretending to zip up his pants and approach him. "You took forever man."

Chris shrugged noncommittally. "You gotta do what you gotta do, bro." The two boys chuckled, but Chris' mind continued to wonder to the odd things relating to Beth and Hanna, hoping that cross would be end to the suspicious mementos.

Silence enveloped the generally quiet area, leaving Chris to his worried thoughts as Josh trudged through the cave with, seemingly, no care in the world. Of course, this wasn't the case, but if Josh did get insight into the fact that Chris may have found something leading to his supposedly _missing sisters,_ that would set his emotions through the roof.

And that was something Chris did _not_ need _._

Chris glanced forwards, keeping his vision away from Josh so he could actually see where he was going. What he noticed was a suspicious looking lump that sat almost peacefully on a rather large rock. Curiously he squinted, trying to make out whatever the object was through the darkness that crept around the already creepy cavernous area.

Josh apparently noticed as well, for he all but bent over trying to figure out what the mystery item was. When that lead to nothing, Josh decided to take the initiative and push towards the object, leaving Chris watching him dash towards the object warily.

"I wonder what it is..." Josh's voice stopped abruptly, and Chris sucked in a breath, realizing whatever it was it probably wasn't good.

"Oh shit what is it...now...?" Chris felt the obnoxious need to empty his stomach as a surge of pain was sent chugging through his head, stimulating all his senses and brain cells all at once in the most overwhelming way possible. Fear churned in his stomach as he blinked, before covering his eyes completely, holding in the urge to scream.

He wasn't terrified just of what sat on that rock.

He was terrified of Josh's reaction.

A blood curling scream ripped through the dry mines. It was unearthly, Chris would say, more like a strangled cry then a bellowing scream. It bounced of the ragged edges of the cave, painfully banging against Chris' eardrums every few seconds. His heart stopped and his blood ran cold as he uneasily looked at Josh, who had now collapsed to the ground, still screaming in the most horrified away.

Beth's head gracefully tipped off of the rock and landed on the ground, almost in a comical way, as if it was trying to torture Joshua, who was now sobbing uncontrollably.

"Josh, oh fuck." Chris mumbled as he knelt beside his friend, giving him a reassuring hug, wondering what the hell he was going to do.


End file.
